THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES THE STATE: THE RUDIMENTS OF NEW ZEALAND SOCIOLOGY JAMES H. POPE, Inspector of Native Schools. NEW ZEALAND: BY AUTHORITY : GEORGE DIDSBURY, GOVERNMENT PRINTER, WELLINGTON. 1887. PBEFACE. THE original intention with regard to this book was that it should be used by young Maoris able to under- stand easy English, and that the purpose of the book should be to give them clear ideas with regard to the institutions existing around them. Some progress had been made in this direction, when it became evident that, if such subjects as rent and value were to be dealt with, the original extreme simplicity of matter and of language could not be maintained throughout ; and it was equally clear that unless these subjects and many others of equal difficulty were dealt with the book would be of but small utility. Accordingly the stan- dard of difficulty was raised, and made such that young men educated at Native boarding-schools might be expected to find the new chapters just within their grasp. But then it seemed plain that if the book could thus be made suitable for this class of readers it would also be easy, by somewhat extending the scope, to make it serve the purpose of a general introduction to sociological subjects for European beginners of any age. With this object in view, therefore, fully one-half of the book was written. A few chapters of a somewhat more advanced character were added to make the work fairly complete within certain limits. The book, then, is expected to serve three pur- poses : (1) The easier chapters (about one-third of the whole)* will give Maoris acquainted with the English language elementary ideas about such matters as wealth, production, money and exchange, and law and * Chapters I., VI.-XL, XIV.-XVL, XX., XXIX., XXXIV. 629730 PREFACE. liberty ; (2) these chapters, in connection with twenty others, w r ill serve for all beginners as an easy introduc- tion to the social sciences ; and (3) the remaining chapters* may be interesting to those who have already made some little progress in the study of sociology. There is another purpose for which the book may possibly be of use. It covers the whole (and much more than the whole) of the ground taken up by the social science prescribed for the Sixth Standard of the public schools. As all the chapters in the book have been constructed on skeletons, it is very likely that most of them are in a convenient form for use as notes of lessons on social-science subjects. Probably a perusal of Chapters XIIL-XVL, for instance, would give a teacher who had never made such subjects a study the frame- work for a series of suitable lessons on exchange, money, banks, and business. Similarly, a brief study of Chapters XXIX.-XXXII. would yield a teacher a series of easily manageable lessons on the government of New Zealand. The material used in the construction of the book has been obtained from various sources, and not with- out much labour. A list of the principal books that have been found useful is given on page vi. In no case has the author endeavoured to hide the source from which ideas or facts have been derived ; what was found quite ready for use has been used. But only a very small portion of the book, certainly not one-twen- tieth of the whole, has been adopted from other writers without very considerable modifications. A good deal of the matter is altogether new, and it is so necessarily, seeing that there is no work from which established views on the subjects treated of can be obtained. It is hoped that much of this matter will be found to be true as w r ell as new. The author has to express his thanks for much very useful help received from the Eev. W. J. Habeiis, B.A., in the shape of criticism of both matter and * Chapters V., XVIIL, XIX., XXI., XXVI., XXVII., and XL. PREFACE. style, and for many valuable hints and suggestions leading to the incorporation of new matter. While the book has been going through the press Mr. Habens has sacrificed a great deal of what ought to have been his leisure time in order to render this assistance. It should be added that the writer alone is ultimately responsible for the views stated in the book, and for the manner in which they -are expressed. Thanks are due also to Sir E. 0. Gibbes, of the Education Depart- ment, who has kindly read all the final revises. The chapters on" law were undertaken with consider- able diffidence, but it seemed probable to the author that a short sketch of the law written by a layman having no technical proclivities might be more inter- esting to beginners than one written by a professional lawyer with even fifty times the author's practical know- ledge of the subject. The chapters referred to have been examined and criticized by a. high legal authority, who, however, is in no way responsible for the final form in which they now appear. Although the author has been fortunate in getting so much valuable assistance, he cannot hope that mis- takes have been entirely avoided. No doubt errors, perhaps grave ones, will be discovered. It is not im- possible, however, that a second edition may be called for, seeing that, whatever may be the faults in the execu- tion of the book, few critics, probably, will doubt that the general design of it is good. At all events, it is the author's intention to make the best use of such criticisms as he may be favoured with, and to prepare himself for the work of excluding from the second edition the faults that will no doubt be discovered in the first. It is hoped, however, that even in its present form the book will be found useful, and will serve the purpose intended, which is to give those who approach such subjects for the first time a good general idea of the State and its workings, and to fit them for reading with profit more advanced works on sociology. It may be said, in conclusion, that the publication VI PREFACE. of " The State " has no kind of political significance. The author does not know even how far its contents are in accord with the views held by the Government, or how far they disagree with those views ; and he lias to thank the Government for allowing him to publish the book without any restrictions of a political character. LIST of WORKS from which important aid in the writing of this book has. been obtained. Harmonies of Political Economy .. .. .. F. Bastiat.* Principles of Political Economy . . . . . . J. S. Mill. Progress and Poverty .. .. .. .. H.George.* Political Economy Primer .. .. .. .. Prof. S. Jevons.* Political Economy . . . . . . . . . . N. W. Senior. Political Economy (Art. Enc. Brit.) .. .. .. J. K. Ingram. Gilbart on Banking. Principles of Sociology .. .. .. .. H. Spencer.* On Prisons . . . . . . . . . . . . Dr. Wines. On the Care and Cure of the Insane . . . . . . Dr. Glanville. A Short History of the English People . . . . J. R. Green. The English Constitution . . . . . . . . W. Bagehot. Stephen's Commentaries. The Science of Law .. .. .. .. Prof. Sheldon Amos.* The Basis of Ethics . . . . . . . . . . Prof. W. R. Sorley. The following writers also have been frequently consulted with advantage : Prof. T. Rogers, A. Mongredien, Prof. Hearn, A. R. Wallace, A. H. Dick, Mr. and Mrs. Fawcett, Archbishop Whately, Adam Smith, Broom, G. H. Lewes, Hallam, and Sir E. Creasy. On special points much valuable information has been obtained from various articles in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. * Other works by these authors have also been used. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii PART I. GENEBAL. CHAP. I. Introductory . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 II. What it is that has fitted Man for Progress . . . . . . 8 III. How a State is formed . . . . . . . . 14 IV. The Proper Work of the State as a Whole . . . . . . 24 V. Work of the State as a Whole. Application of Principles . . 30 PART II. HUMAN WANTS. VI. Introductory.- Human Wants, and the Efforts made to satisfy them. Labour, Wealth . . . . . . 38 VII. Wealth. Production : Producers, Land, Labour . . . . 44 VIII. Wealth. Production : Labour, Capital . . . . 49 IX. Wealth. Capital and Wages . . . . . . 56 X. Possessors of Wealth. Capital, Insurance, Wages of Manage- ment, Interest, Profit . . . . . . . . 62 XI. Capita] ; Knowledge and Skill ; Capital and Production . . 70 XII. Rent : What it is ; its Amount ; whose it is . . 78 XIII. Exchange : Value and its Cause ; Price . . . . 86 XIV. Exchange : Barter ; Money . . . . . . 93 XV. Exchange : Banks and Banking . . . . . . . . 102 XVI. Exchange : Business ; Credit to Consumers . . . . . . Ill XVII. Value : Demand and Supply . . . . . . . . 119 XVIII. Value : Cost of Production . . . . . . . . 126 XIX. Law of Rent ; How Wealth is shared . . . . . . 136 XX. Wages. High and Low Wages ; Wages of Skilled Labour . . 144 XXI. Population and Wages . . . . . . . . . . 154 XXII. Prosperity and Depression ; Rich and Poor . . . . . . 163 XXIII. Hospitals, Lunatic Asylums, Prisons . . . . . . 169 XXIV. Taxes .. .. .. .. .. .. ..178 XXV. Foreign Trade .. .. .. .-, . . ..188 XXVI. National Debt . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 XXVII. Land and the State . . . . . . . . . . 204 XXVIII. How the Satisfaction of Human Wants may best be promoted by the State . . . ., . . . . . . . . 211 PART III. GOVERNMENT. XXIX. The People; their Share in the Government, and how they got it 218 XXX. The Ministry . . . . . . . . . . " . . 229 XXXI. Parliament : The House of Representatives . . . . . . 237 XXXII. The Legislative Council ; the Governor . . . . . . 243 XXXIII. The Civil Service . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 Vlll TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAP. PART IV. LAW. Pa gfr XXXIV. Introductory. Rights and Duties . . . . . . . . 262 XXXV. Rights of Property ; Title . . . . . . . . . . 270 XXXVI. Rights of Persons in Private Life ; Private Wrongs . . . . 278 XXXVII. Crimes ; Trial ; Punishment .*. .. .. ..285 XXXVIII. Evidence ; Costs ; Courts ; Codes. Law concluded . . . . 293 PART V. THE LESSONS OF HISTOBY. XXXIX. The Future. What to avoid. Causes of the Decay of Nations 301 PART VI. INDIVIDUAL CONDUCT. XL. Right Conduct of the Individual is necessary for the Welfare of the State . . . 311 INDEX .. .. .. .. .. .. ..321 ERRATA. The reader is requested to make the following corrections ; most of them are, however, of trifling importance : Page 6. Read " State," for " tree," in the 13th line from the bottom. 33. Delete " it may," in the llth line from the top. 51. Read " water-carts," for " water-cart," in the 15th line from the top. 106. Read " perhaps seventy-five," for " ninety-five," in the 6th line from the bottom. 115. Read " that may," for " who may," in the 2nd line from the bottom. 199. Read " advantage," for " advantages," in the 14th line from the bottom. 201. Read " Chapter XXII.," for " Chapter XXIV.," in the 4th line from the bottom. 251. Read " the peculiar work of each," for " its peculiar work," in the llth line from the top. 267. Insert " do," after " may," in the 17th line from the top. THE STATE. PART L GENERAL. CHAPTEE I. INTRODUCTORY. IP we were told that near at hand there was a great machine, working night and day with very wonderful results, many of us would gladly take the trouble to go and see this machine, to examine the work done by it, and to try, if possible, to under- stand all about it. If we were told that the machine was alive ; that each of its parts was made up of living creatures ; that, though each of these creatures had a will of its own, and could not be actually forced to labour at all, yet, somehow, almost every one really per- formed its own special duty ; that when one of these creatures died its work was taken up by another ; that, as time w r ent on, the whole machine actually grew and adapted itself to the kind of work it had to perform ; that the moment it ceased to do this it would begin to grow weak and decay ; if we were told all this, we should probably no longer take much interest in the matter. We should begin to perceive that this wonderful machine was nothing more than the society in which we live, and about which we are prone to think that we already know everything that is really worth knowing. The great machine here alluded to is called the State;* * As used in this book, the word State means a society united for the common good under one system of law and government ; but not necessarily an inde- 1 you are now invited to examine it carefully, to notice the different parts of which it is composed, to endeavour to find out how it was formed, to learn the nature of the powers that keep it working, to see how its work is regulated, and to try to dis- cover how it may most easily be preserved from danger and decay. It is hoped that you will find your examination of this machine more interesting than you now expect, and that in the end you will confess that you have learnt many things about the State that are well worth knowing. There is a great deal of what is constantly taking place around us that we think we could thoroughly explain without very much trouble, but which, when we make the attempt, we find that we cannot explain at all : the answer that we are ready to give to a seemingly simple question we discover to be merely a starting-point for a string of questions, each one of which is more difficult to answer than that which preceded it. Let us take a simple example, to show that this is true. If you were asked to explain fully how it has come to pass that you are able to have a cup of tea at breakfast-time, your reply would perhaps be that tea is supplied by the grocer in exchange for money. This would lead to these two questions : Why is a grocer willing to receive money in exchange for his tea, and where does he get the tea from ? You would perhaps reply that the grocer knows that he can exchange money for anything of equal value that he may happen to want ; and that his tea was obtained from a general merchant, who bought it from a tea-dealer in China, who bought it from a tea-farmer, who grew it in order that he might thereby obtain rice and clothing for himself and his family, and be able to pay his taxes to the Chinese Government. But, then, if you are to explain this matter fully, you may now fairly be asked two other questions ; one is this : Seeing that hardly any one uses money itself for any other purpose or work than that of buying and selling with it, how is it that everybody seems so willing to take it in exchange for more useful goods or for labour? You have told us that every one is willing to take pendent, sovereign, political society. The large measure of self-government granted to this colony by the Mother-country makes it possible to-uso the word State in the sense explained without practical inconvenience and without offence. No other word would answer the purpose. 3 money in exchange for other things, but we wish to know how this has come about. The other question may be put thus : You say that, among other things, the tea-farmer has to pay taxes. Yes, but why do the Chinese, or any other people, pay taxes, and what right has a government to make people pay taxes ? We have not nearly got to the bottom of this simple matter yet ; but perhaps you see that you have already met with questions that you would find it hard to answer without thinking very carefully about them. Let us take another case : No doubt there are in New Zea- land people who would, if they could, steal whatever they hap- pened to take a fancy to ; and yet every one is able without much difficulty to keep what belongs to him. If you were asked to explain this you would probably say that the law and the police protect us from robbery ; perhaps you would add that, as long as this is done for us, it does not matter much how it is done. But it does matter very much indeed : we shall find as we go on that nations that have allowed themselves to be governed without ever asking how or why their laws were made or enforced, and who have permitted a power to grow up amongst them which they could not control, have always sunk into decay and ruin. Unless, then, you really mean to neglect your country and, as far as you are concerned, let it go to ruin if it will, you should learn to answer such questions as these : What is the law, and who made it ? What are the police, and what is their work ? How has the law come to be just what it is ? Is it well that the laws, or some of them, should be altered now and again, and, if so, how can the changes be made ? Pro- bably you would find these questions very much harder to answer than you think ; but, at any rate, you should do your best with them. Even though you may not be able to learn very much about the actual practice of the law, you will find that it is a good thing to understand some of its simpler principles, which are perhaps also the most interesting and important. When you have mastered these you will not think much of the little trouble it may have cost you to do so. Again, if you were asked to say how it has come about that a man can now travel by land from Dunedin to Christchurch in a few hours, while twenty years ago the same journey would have taken a week, and you replied that a railway has been made between the two places, you would have merely begun to answer the question. Before you could think that \ou had thoroughly answered it, you would have to say who made the railway, who paid for it, and how the money was obtained. When you had said that the Government made the railway, and paid for it with borrowed money, you might at once be asked this string of questions : What do you mean by the Government ? Who gave them the power to make the railway ? Who lent the Government the money that the railway cost ? What do the lenders receive for the use of it ? Who has to pay this ? How arid when will the debt incurred on account of the railway be paid ? Who will pay it ? Will all the people receive benefit from the railway ? If not, which class of them will not ? Is there any possible way by which every one may get his proper share of the benefit ? It is not likely that you could answer all perhaps you could answer none of these questions properly ; but it is very desirable that you should learn to answer some of them. If you are asked how it has come about that every child in New Zealand, whether European or Maori, may obtain a good education, and you reply that the Government provides schools and teachers without charging the parents anything for them, you again only just begin to answer the question put ; and in part you answer it wrongly, for most parents really do pay the whole, or nearly the whole, cost of their children's education, as will be shown further on. You might next be fairly asked, W T hy should the State interfere with children's school-education at all? Why should it say who is fit to teach and who is not? Why should the State decide what children are to learn, any more than it should decide what kinds of hats and boots they are to wear ? Do you think you could answer these questions ? Then there is the case of those who are feeble, or sick, or suffering from accident, and are without the means of supporting themselves in their trouble ; and there are those who are insane or who are criminals. All these are taken charge of by the State under certain circumstances, and provided for in one way or another for longer or shorter periods. All sorts of simple looking questions might be asked about the State's treatment of these people, and it would generally be found that the replies to those questions would at once lead us to piit new questions that would be much harder to answer. You will easily understand that many of the questions that may arise in this way about society, law, and government are so extremely difficult to deal with, that learned men, judges, and statesmen have not yet been able to determine what the proper answers to them are. These questions we shall have to leave carefully alone ; but our being unable to master difficult ques- tions is no reason why we should not do our best with easier ones. In this book we are going to try to answer a good many of those that appear to be within our reach ; and it is hoped that the effort will prove to be both useful and pleasant. It will not do, however, for us to be satisfied with finding answers to single questions : if we are, our work will not do us the greatest possible amount of good. We must try to find out, if we can, general rules and laws that will serve to explain a number of particular cases. For instance, after learning that some nations have been poor and others rich ; that some have been strong and others weak, some industrious and others lazy, some humane and noble and others cruel and mean ; that some have sprung up very suddenly, but have soon decayed, while others have grown very slowly, have endured for many centuries, and even now show no signs of weakness ; we shall next have to consider the relations between the characters and the fates of these nations. When this has been done we shall perhaps be able to say, " All nations that act in such-and-such a way may become strong, wealthy, and happy; those that act otherwise will surely become weak and die out." But there is an excellent way of studying such a subject as this a way that should not be neglected. We may try to trace the growth of the State. An illustration will show what is meant. Suppose that three Polynesian visitors come to New Zealand at different times of the year one in the month of June, another in September or October, and the third in February. Suppose that the attention of each of these visitors is directed to a certain peach-tree by its Downer, who has planted and grown it, and that the owner explains to his visitors that the peach is one of the principal fruit-bearing trees of the colony. What dif- ferent impressions the three visitors would have of the same tree ! One would think of it as a bare, withered object, hardly worth a passing glance ; the second would remember only the beautiful pink flowers ; the third,, only the delicious fruit. Even the com- bined knowledge of the three, would amount to very little. The owner of the tree, on the contrary, would understand the peach very thoroughly. He grew the stock, and grafted the scion on it ; he watched the tree in summer and in winter, and learnt how it was affected by storm and rain, by frost and sunshine. He could tell you its whole history how at one period it was a tender little thing that could be easily crushed or torn out of the ground ; how it grew very rapidly for a time, and then more slowly ; how it sometimes needed pruning and sometimes did better without it ; how the blight came, what effect it had, and how it was got rid of ; how one year the young fruit was so abundant that it had to be thinned out, while the previous year the crop had been very small and poor. Perhaps he could tell you, too, that manuring did not always suit the tree, and that he often found it his best plan to do next to nothing himself and let Nature do everything. Now, the State is in many respects like a tree : at the be- ginning it is very small and weak ; it grows up gradually, passing from one condition to another ; it is subject to diseases which are often hard to cure ; what suits it well at one time is hurt- ful at another; and its growth depends mainly on the powers of Nature, but partly also on the way in which the tree is managed by those who have the care of it. If, then, we wish to fairly under- stand the State we must not be content with noticing what things are going on around us now, or we shall be like the Polynesians with regard to the peach-tree ; but rather we must try to find out how the State seed was planted, and what kind of soil it was placed in ; we must also consider how it was affected by different kinds of treatment, and why this branch grew and flourished and why that had to be cut off. If we do this kind of work care- fully we may hope that in the end we shall understand some- thing about our great tree the State. Perhaps one of the most important things that we shall thus learn is, that though something can be done by a Government, yet very much must be left to be done by the slowly-acting but mighty powers of Nature ever working in the minds and hearts of the people, and preparing them for changes that always take place when the proper time has arrived. It is not necessary to say much about the importance of the subjects we are going to study : a knowledge of the laws, government, and institutions of New Zealand must be useful to all young New Zealanders, whether of European or of Maori race. You young people will soon step into the places now held by the older colonists and by the Maori chiefs that have seen Te Aotearoa change into New Zealand ; you will have to form judgments on these subjects, and to act upon them while man- aging the noble estate that your fathers are soon going to leave you ; and you may do very much either to make or to spoil the great nation that is being founded here in this Southern Sea. You must try to understand these things, and the sooner you do so the better. If you wait till by-and-by the chances are that you will never understand them, that you will be in a muddle about them till the very end of your lives, and that, instead of being able to manage your own affairs and to secure liberty and equal rights for yourselves and the generations that will come after you, you will have to commit yourselves to the guidance of others who will perhaps be far less mindful of your needs than of their own advancement. CHAPTEE II. WHAT IT IS THAT HAS FITTED MAN FOB PROGRESS. MAN is related to lifeless matter, to plants, and to the brute creation. Our bodies are composed of such things as those we see around us, or as may easily be brought under the observa- tion of our senses. It has been said that a man is made of a small quantity of ashes, a few pounds of charcoal, and two or three buckets of water. In one sense this is very nearly true. As far as we know, too, this matter of which our bodies is made up is quite like other matter. If we take some common salt, dissolve it in water, boil it until a great deal of the water has gone away in steam, and then let the liquor cool, we shall find that the particles of the salt which we know must be exceed- ingly small will join themselves together so as to form crystals each . boimded by six equal squares. If we did the same thing with salt got from human remains we should find that exactly the same thing would happen. So it is also with all the other mate- rials of which the body is made up. The oxygen that is in the body does not differ from the oxygen of the air. It is true that in the body it is combined with other substances to form flesh, blood, and bone ; but there is no real change in the oxygen itself. It could be separated, and it would then be found to be just what it was before it was taken into the body. " Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return." But, though we are related to matter in this way, we know that the difference between a living, thinking man and a mass of lifeless matter is enormous. In mere matter there is not even the beginning of anything like feeling or consciousness ; and, though matter and mind are so closely connected, we cannot even think of them as being in any respect forms of the same thing, any more than \ve can think that the lightning-flash is, in another shape, the black cloud from which it seems to spring. Man's likeness to the vegetable world is somewhat greater that is, it would be a little less absurd to say that man is like a tree than to compare him to a rock : plants have life and growth, and in some cases something that seems very like a kind of feel- ing. When, however, we come to the brute creation, we find much greater resemblances. If we begin even at the bottom of the scale of animal life and gradually ascend, careful observation will show us that many of the lower animals have habits and feelings very much like our own ; indeed, we shall often be startled at the strong family likeness the lower animals bear to ourselves. Mark the bee, and see how industrious and careful it is ; how it unites with others to promote the common good ; how bravely it will attack an enemy ; how helpful it is to its weaker brethren. Watch the ant, which does quite as much as the bee, and even more. Very likely you have read how it keeps "cattle," and how it goes to war and makes slaves, just as human beings do. Notice the little Zosterops, or wax-eye, and see how playful it is, and how much it enjoys the society of its fellows. You have learnt at school about the beaver, and the patience and skill he brings to bear upon the public work of constructing a safe dam. Many of us have noticed the steady perseverance of a horse on a long journey, when, though quite tired out, he has still pushed on fast, of his own accord, in order to reach a well-known stopping- place, thus encountering present pain for the sake of future rest. Who has not observed the affection and constancy of two pigeons engaged in bringing up their little family, or the valour of the game-cock, and his desire always to excel and be above others ? Have you not often read of the sagacity of the elephant, of his bravery, and of his tenderness towards the weak and the help- less ; of the grizzly bear, and his enduring desire for revenge when he considers that he has been insulted ; of the tigress, the fiercest of all wild animals, and her tender affection for her offspring, and of her contempt for danger and death while defending them. You know how faithful the dog is to his master, and how much men might leai'ii from him in this 10 respect. Have you not seen, too, how readily one dog will quarrel witli another about the merest trifle, and how cold and distant a sleek well-fed dog is to a cur of low degree ? You must have noticed the jealousy of a dog whose master has patted a stranger. And no doubt you have seen a dog thoroughly ashamed of himself after he has been beaten in a fight, or has stolen something and has been found out, or has felt himself in some way disgraced ; you could hardly see a better example of the effects of the feeling of shame than that afforded by a dog with his tail between his legs, sneaking away from his offended master. You will thus see that many of the feelings and affections, of the virtues and vices of human beings are to be found in the brute creation some of them, indeed, in a more striking form than they ever take in the case of human beings. Never- theless, there is a very great difference an immense difference between a man and a brute, even between an exceedingly stupid man and a very clever dog. It must be most important to find out exactly what the nature of this difference is. Most probably several elements combine to cause man's superiority over the brutes, but the only element on which we need insist at present is his power of making progress in the arts of providing for his own comfort and well-being and of developing social institu- tions. It is remarkable that so many animals are like man in one respect or another, and yet that so few of them have hit upon the plan of living a social life, while those that have, such as the beaver, the ant, and the bee, have never got beyond doing what is necessary to secure food, shelter, and protection. Men, on the contrary, combine for all sorts of purposes that have little or nothing to do with the mere procuring of food and pro- tection. But the really important difference is that, while brutes remain as they are, man makes progress that when one difficulty has been overcome by him another is immediately attacked. Thus, in New Zealand we find first the bush-track, then the bridle-path, then the mud-road, then metal, and last the railway, coming fast one after the other. The lower animals even the cleverest of them go only so far and no further. We have no reason to think that a hive of wild bees of the present 11 day differs from a hive of two thousand years ago. There is no reason to believe that ants are making any kind of progress. But compare what we have here in New Zealand, our railways, public buildings, libraries, schools, churches, and home comforts, with what existed in Britain two thousand years ago, or with what was to be found in New Zealand fifty years ago, and you will not doubt that man moves on. It is plain, then, that man has some faculty that fits him not only for complex social life, but also for progress in that life. What is this faculty ? It cannot be the mere power of joining with others for a certain object : ants and bees excel him in this. It cannot be valour, or fidelity, or steadiness of purpose, or strong affections. He is surpassed in each of these respects by one or more of the lower animals. Can it be that there is something altogether new in man ? Can it be that, just as life when applied to matter produces quite a new thing, with entirely new powers, so an entirely new faculty bestowed on man has made him leave the brute far behind ? Can it be that if man's great gifts are rightly used they in the end place him as far ahead of the mere animal as the animal is in advance of mere senseless matter? Brutes are the slaves of the conditions by which they are surrounded to a much g'reater extent than men are. If animals can find enough food to support them they live ; if they cannot they die. None of them have found out how to grow food. If the weather suits them they live and thrive ; if not they die. It is so throughout. It may be said, as a general rule, that if the lower animals are by nature suited to the cir- cumstances in which they are placed, they live, and if not they perish. Man, on the contrary, can alter his surroundings and make them suit him. If he is likely to want food he grows it ; if the rain is troublesome the sheep or the india-rubber tree supplies him with a great-coat; if he is cold he makes afire; and so on. Thus it comes about that in the heat of the tropics or in the cold of the polar regions, in the fertile valley or the sandy desert, on the sea or on the land, man can make himself a home, and live and do well. It is plain that man's power cf altering things so that they may suit him is a very important one, and that it must be one of the things that make progress 12 possible; but it cannot be the only one, seeing that ants, and bees, and some other animals have it to a degree that enables them to construct dwellings and store up food. By itself, this power of making his circumstances suit himself would only cause man to be very clever in securing food and avoiding death. The real advantage possessed by man is this : Brutes cannot store up their knowledge and experience, and hand them down to those that come after them ; man, being endowed with a faculty of speech which enables him to form and hand down general ideas, has this power. Thus, it is easy to see, the knowledge gained by one generation of the brute creation must die with them, the next generation having to go over the same ground again ; there can therefore be no increase of knowledge for them, though there may be a very slow improvement of their natural powers. But the knowledge possessed by one generation of men is passed on to the next ; and these, instead of having to begin where their fathers did, can start where they left off. That is to say that, as soon as children have by practice got their powers of thought into full working order, they are ready to make use of all that has been thought and done by their fathers, and to add to it the results of their own thought and observation. It seems, then, that men differ from the brutes in having a faculty of which speech is the sign and the instrument, and that it is this that has made them capable of progress. As the store of knowledge grows larger the pleasure and use of adding to it become better known, and men work harder to increase it. Every faculty, too, becomes stronger the more it is used, and as time goes on men become better able to make use of their knowledge and to add to it. Now, as parents have a tendency to hand down their mental as well as their bodily powers to their offspring, it is plain that, when man, pos- sessing as he does the faculty of speech, no longer has to struggle for his life with wild beasts, he can hardly help advancing, though perhaps he moves very slowly at first ; and it seems certain also that there can be no limit to man's progress in the future if he will only make a proper use of the grand gifts that have been bestowed upon him. He must go on, and gain strength by going. It all amounts to this, then ; what fits man for progress is 13 his power of storing up and using the knowledge of others, and he has gained this power through being able to hear and under- stand speech. If he wishes to add in the future to the progress that he has made in the past, he must continue by careful observation and thought to increase his store of knowledge ; he must also increase his wisdom by training himself to make proper use of his knowledge. CHAPTEE III. HOW A STATE IS FOEMED. MORE than two thousand years ago a very clever Greek fell into serious trouble by declaring that he thought the sun might be larger than Greece. Men had settled in their own minds that the sun, or Helios, as he was called, was a divine person, and that to talk about him in any such way was very wicked indeed. We now know for certain that the sun is not a person, but an enormous globe of matter, like that of which the earth is composed, but exceedingly hot, and that its bulk is nearly thirteen hundred thousand times that of the earth. The sun shines down upon us just us it did upon the Greeks ; for us, as it was for them, it is the supporter of life and the provider of nearly every comfort that we possess ; only, we know a great deal more about the sun than the Greeks did. The relation of people of the present day to the history of the men of the most ancient times is not exactly the same as that of the Greeks to questions concerning the nature of the sun, but there are so many differences of opinion with regard to the sub- ject, and so little is as yet proved and known about it, that we may fairly consider it as being one of the things that are too difficult for us to deal with, and we therefore leave the history of the earliest men untouched. It is certain, however, that man does not always remain exactly the same : nations rise from the savage to the civilised condition ; nations also fall from a lofty to a lowly position. It is certain also that at the present day there are still many tribes, and even peoples, in an extremely barbarous and uncultured condition. Discoveries have been made of late years which render it possible to understand how a 15 tribe or a people in this condition may gradually rise till they become perfectly civilised. It has even been thought possible to sketch the history of peoples supposed to have thus risen. It may be asked how it can be possible to construct a pro- bable history of a savage tribe that knew nothing about books or writing. In the first place, it may be answered, careful observation of trifling circumstances may often yield most important informa- tion. If while taking a Avalk through the bush we came to what had evidently been an old cooking-place, and if, on turning up the ground with a stick or a knife, we saw one or two stone axes, a great number of cockle-shells, some bones, and a greenstone ear- ornament, what should we think ? We should feel almost cer- tain that Maoris had been there, and also that they had probably lived in the neighbourhood. Conclusions arrived at in this way may possibly be false ; but perhaps other knowledge possessed by the observer may afford him the means of making necessary corrections. If we entered a cave and found moa-bones mixed with human bones, what ought we to think that Maoris and moas had lived at the same time, and had gone into the cave to die ? We might think this at first, but a little reflection would show us that it was more probable that the moas had died in the cave a very long time ago, and that the human bones had been placed there much more recently : first, because we have no reason to think that the Maoris ever knew anything about the moa, seeing that it was an Englishman Professor Owen who first found out that its bones were those of a bird; and, in the second place, because we know that it is the practice of the Maoris to take up dead bodies of chiefs after they have been buried for a year or two, to scrape the bones carefully, and then to send them away in charge of one or two of the oldest men of the tribe to be hidden away by them in the most secret places they can find. Careful reasoning about observed facts may even render it possible to say whether events of which neither history nor tradition is preserved took place a long or a short time ago ; for instance if you lived near a river that overflowed its banks once every year, and you found that after every flood there was left behind a very thin layer of mud say, of about the thickness of a 16 threepenny-piece you might believe that in time the ground would rise to some extent ; but would you not think that it would take a very long time for it to rise fifty feet ? If you were afterwards told that on the banks of another great river, the Nile, wells had been sunk to a great depth ; that it seemed certain that the soil had been formed in much the same way as it was on the banks of the river with which you were acquainted ; and yet that the men who had dug these wells had found pieces of bricks and broken pottery at the very bottom of them, would you not say that the people who used those bricks and pots must have lived a very long time ago ? We have given these illustrations and explanations in order that you may see how things that happened in times long gone by are found out and reasoned about. We may now state an important result arrived at by similar means, but we must not stop to go into particulars. Sharpened flints, stone axes, tools and weapons of many different kinds, and skeletons of men and bones of animals that have evidently been killed and eaten by men, have been found in such places as to show that, even long before the Nile mud began to be laid down in its valley, men in a backward stage of civilisation lived and worked, and suffered and died. Let us now endeavour to trace the steps by which an utterly rude and uncivilised race of men might gradually be- come fit to form a State. In doing this, w r e shall make what use we can of the facts that have been brought to light by careful study of the traces that ancient man has left behind him. Men of science tell us that there is a very wide gap between the lowest man and the very highest ape. No skull has yet been found about which there could be a doubt as to whether it belonged to a man or to an ape ; for, while the smallest full- grown human skull yet found could, if all the holes in it were stopped with clay, contain 62 cubic inches of water, the skull of the largest ape would hold but 34i. There can therefore be 110 sound reason for saying that any kind of man we know about is the near relation of any kind of ape that we have seen or heard about. Judging from skulls and skeletons found, we may say that the very rudest savage seems to have been a man, every inch 17 of him he had his hand, his brain, and his erect gait ; but for all that he must have led a very poor kind of life. He lived on wild berries and fruits, and, probably, such small animals as he was strong enough to catch and destroy with his hands, feet, and teeth. When he lived near the sea- shore his chief food was cockles and shell-fish. No doubt he would, along with his fellows, engage in fights with larger animals, perhaps of species that have long been extinct. In these fights he would sometimes come off second-best. His cunning and his hand would by-and-by enable him to use sticks and stones hi his contests. He would be sure to find out that a sharp stone fastened to a stick with some kind of fibre would make a useful weapon. He would next hit upon the plan of sharpening one stone by rubbing it upon another. He could now hardly fail to discover that his stone axe might be used for many purposes amongst others, for cutting wood and shaping other weapons that he might wish to make. Then, perhaps he would, on some very hot day, learn how to make a fire by rubbing two pieces of wood together ; and soon the plan of using fire to hollow out a tree for a canoe would occur to him. In the summer, instead of being constantly in his cave, he would live out in the open air, making a rough shelter of boughs to sleep under at night, just as the Australians do to this day. He would soon find that with the aid of a fire he could manage to live thus during spring and autumn. Then he would perhaps discover that by digging a square hole in the side of a slope, making a framework with the timber that his axes would enable him to cut, and covering the whole with rushes and mud, he would be able to do almost entirely without his miserable cave. All this time his skill in fighting and con- quering wild beasts would be increasing. He would surely have learnt that advantages could be gained by two or more working together that they could thus get more to eat, with less work. A sort of rude friendship might thus have been formed, especially among those that had been neighbours from childhood ; groups would gradually become distinct : certain men, women, and children would move about together, just as the Victorian blacks used to do thirty years ago, and these would by-and-by look upon themselves as a group or tribe separated from all others. 2 18 Generally, there seem to be three well-marked stages of savage life. It is the eustom to call these periods Ages, though the term stages would be much more correct. The first of these is called the Stone Age. During this period all tools and weapons were made of stone. At first these were very rudely shaped, but as time went on improvement took place. Men soon learnt to make canoes, and at the end of the Stone Age they had even learnt how to make a coarse kind of pottery. Then came the Bronze Age. It had now been found out how to work some of the softer metals, to construct fairly comfortable dwellings on piles, to build pretty large boats, and to make shields and swords of bronze, which contained nine parts of copper to one of tin. At last the Iron Age arrived. When men had got on so far as to be able to deal with iron, they were well on their way towards civilisation. Iron is so difficult to smelt that people who can manage to smelt it are almost sure to be able to do a great many other things. It should be mentioned, however, that the Fan, a people in Western Africa, who are in many respects still very savage, are able to work iron ; this shows that too much stress must not be laid on the method of measuring the progress of peoples by finding what metals they can work. A further proof of the uncertainty attached to this means of estimating human progress may be stated. In very ancient times there were men living on the Swiss Lakes who built large wooden platforms on piles driven into the water ; on these platforms, which were sometimes more than an acre in extent, they erected houses of considerable size. These people made canoes and fish-hooks, and made and burnt pots and pans ; they also kept horses and cattle, and grew wheat and apples. Yet the men that lived on these platforms knew nothing of either bronze or iron, all their weapons and tools being made of either wood, bone, or stone. But, although they were still in the Stone Age, they must already have been somewhat advanced in civilisation and in comfort. During the earlier periods of the Stone Age it is likely that men were exceedingly wild and savage ; for but little gentle- ness or culture could be expected among people whose whole lives were passed in fighting with wild animals and their fellow-men. Still, even in very early times men were much more clever and 19 took far more pains to amuse themselves than we should have expected. In some of the caves containing the remains of Stone- Age men of very early times, carvings in bone and horn, very well done, have been found. Like the uncivilised Eskimo of the present day, the earliest men of the Stone Age did not bury their dead ; but long before the end of that age much attention was paid to this matter. It may occur to those who have read English history that when the Europeans arrived in this country the Maoris had not yet found out the use of iron, and were still in the " Stone Age ;" and that, although they seem to have been as far advanced in most respects as the Britons were when Julius Caesar visited them nearly two thousand years ago, yet the Britons then knew the use of iron, seeing that they had iron scythes fastened to the axles of their war-chariots. The explanation is that, though the Britons were very, rude and barbarous themselves, they had long been within reach of more civilised nations ; for the Romans and the Phoenicians had long traded with some of them for tin and other things. Thus the Britons had had the chance of learning certain arts which they were not yet far advanced enough to discover for themselves. The Maoris, on the other hand, had been for long ages cut off from the outer world, and had had to find out for themselves everything that they knew. We shall here merely suggest how family ties somewhat resembling our own might grow up amongst the members of a savage tribe living in mere groups. No doubt the institution of the true family in such a group would generally (perhaps always) be caused by some impulse from outside the group, perhaps by contact with a thoroughly civilised nation. Still, it has been thought possible to show that many of the family rela- tionships known to us might gradually grow up among a people entirely without them among, a people having customs like those of the Tibetans, or the Nairs of Malabar that among a group of human beings that had long lived without any true family ties, the family- consisting of a man, his wife, and children might by- and-by be recognised. If some powerful man were to establish his claim to be master of a family by fighting and overcoming those who disputed it, afterwards, perhaps, the same sort of arrangement would be made throughout the whole group or tribe. 20 Then, if the people in the district were few in number, it would most likely come about that the families would be scattered for a time ; that each family would live apart from the rest ; that each man would rule his wife or, perhaps, his wives and his children, and would be their sole master and lawgiver. In the course of time these families would be much enlarged : marriages would take place, and other events might cause outside people to become members of the family. Then, though the character of the family would be much altered, the father would still hold the supreme power, and would now, perhaps, be known by such a name as chief, headman, eorl, or ariki, and would rule the whole family just as he had been accustomed to rule his wives and children. In such cases as these, perhaps, the bond between the members of a household would hardly be stronger than that between any individual and the whole of the family. For if any wrong was done to any member it would be the business of the whole family to have that wrong set right. The same kind of obligation exists among the Maoris to this day. Family ties once formed, Ave may be sure that, as time went on, various other improvements would take place. Gradually the arts of growing food by planting seeds, and of taming the young of wild animals, would be found out. Then people would learn to fence in their cultivations, and other arts would spring up : progress would lead to progress perhaps to more rapid pro- gress. At first everything that a tribe possessed, including their land, would be iised by everybody, but there would soon be rough ideas about ownership; for it would be found convenient that a man who tilled a piece of ground and planted seed should get the fruit, and that he who tamed a beast should have the best right to its milk and flesh. Still, for a long time everything would be in common to a certain extent, and it would be only after a vast number of quarrels and disputes that it would be found to be a convenient custom for every man to have as his own all that he had worked for. Gradually other useful customs would grow up^ and at last we should probably find people, all observing the same customs, scattered over the district and living in little groups wherever the land was good, or on the sea-coast where fish could be procured, or in places that were easy to defend against an enemy. This is just what Europeans found when they came to New Zealand. 21 Let us suppose, now, that the people of a country have got so far on that they have already made some progress in the arts of tilling the ground, of building fairly comfortable dwellings, and of making clothing ; that they live in families or groups, and are ready to band themselves together to defend any one or more of their number from injury; that certain customs have grown up among them (such as tapu amongst the Maoris) which are respected by everybody ; and that there is a certain amount of agreement among them as to a man's right to enjoy what he has worked for. In a society of this kind there is always a strong tendency for the family, consisting of father, mother, and children, or, for larger groups like the hapus of the Maoris, to unite with other families or groups, in order that the safety of all may be secured, along with other advantages that separate families or small groups can hardly hope to possess. If it were not for tribal jealousy and hatred generally the results of acts of violence committed by individuals of one tribe on those of another, and leading on, of course, to revengeful deeds union would always very soon follow the formation of numerous families or groups. Causes of many sorts may at last bring about a union that will lead to the formation of a real State. We have now reached the point at which we begin to emerge from the region of probability, and to come among certainties. Hitherto we have had no guide except our power of inferring from a few sometimes a very few observed facts a possible or probable explanation of them. Now, however, we oan begin to make use of the lights of real history. These lights burn dimly at times, but on the whole they enable us to see our way instead of guessing it. We have no longer to do with what may have been, we have come on that which has been or is. With the aid of history, then, let us see how the union that leads to the formation of a real State may be caused. About a thousand years ago numerous bands of men in small vessels used to set out from Norway and Denmark to rob and plunder people that could not defend them- selves. A great many of these vessels went to Normandy; and the pirates, finding it a pleasant country, much better than their own, determined to settle there. They soon got families around them ; but, being intruders, they knew that they 22 were not safe unless they stood firmly by one another. This they did, and so a great State came into being. The descendants of these people, under William the Con- queror, attacked and subdued England. All the races of people in England were made to obey the Norman laws for a long period, and, as time went on, English, Normans, Danes, and Cclt& gradually became bound together and formed a great compact State, which took the place of the weaker Anglo-Saxon State that had preceded it. In Arabia some twelve hundred years ago the people were divided into tribes or very large family groups, with very little union amongst them. A great lawgiver, statesman, and general, the false prophet Mahomet, brought forward a new religion, and, after many hard struggles and much fighting, at last suc- ceeded in banding the people together for the purpose of spread- ing the new faith. Here, again, a mighty and long-enduring State was brought into being. Sometimes a number of small States combine to form one large State. Bismarck, now Chancellor of the Empire of Ger- many, perceiving the desire of the Germans for union, made the best use of an opportunity that occurred, and united them. The result was that a very powerful State, the great German Empire, was formed through the union of many weaker ones. Our own little State has come into being somewhat dif- ferently; it may be compared to a layer from a mulberry-tree, planted in a new soil, and grafted with shoots from other mulberry-trees. But here, as elsewhere, it is union of the various peoples in the colony English, Maoris, French, Germans, and others that is the basis of our State. The Maoris by themselves were never able to form anything resembling a State ; their tribal jealousies were far too strong to allow any considerable number of them to unite for any purpose whatever. If, then, you are asked to say how a State is formed, you may reply that when a large number of families, groups, or small tribes- are scattered over a country, and some cause has made them unite for a common purpose, the formation of a State has been begun. When the groups or tribes have ceased to aim only at get- ting as much good for themselves as they can, even if it be at the 23 expense of the other groups, and have learnt to consider them- selves as part of a great whole, for whose interests they must be prepared, if necessary, to suffer some hardship when their turn comes; and, above all, when they have learnt to connect the future with the present, and to look forward with pleasure and with pride to the coming greatness of their nation ; then the formation of the State is complete. It may be that in the far future it will become plain that there should be only one State, and that all peoples ought to combine for the good of all ; but the day when this will take place must be very far off, and till it comes men may well be- lieve that one of the noblest works in which they can engage is the promotion of the welfare of the State to which they belong. CHAPTEE IV. THE PEOPEE WOEK OF THE STATE AS A WHOLE. So far we have spoken of a State only in a general way. We have shown that it is one of the results of man's progress. You have seen that when once men are ready to become members of a large society they may be brought into union by various causes. A common danger may unite them and form them into a State, or a new religion may do it. Foreign laws may, if strictly enforced, unite peoples of different race and language, and in time form them into a real State. A colony may be sent out from a State, and, after uniting with or conquering the original inhabitants of the new country, and having its numbers increased by colonists from other States, may form a new State not unlike that from which it sprang. You have seen, also, that through the spread of some grand idea, such as that all the people of one race should form a single nation, many small nations may combine and form one great State. There are many other causes that may determine when and how a State may be formed ; but we have mentioned enough for our purpose. You must not think that people always know when they are combining to form a State, or that a State is perfect the moment the union has taken place. When a large number of people have been made to feel strongly the need for union they unite ; but often they are not in the least aware that they are forming a State : they have combined for this purpose or for that, and the consequence is that they are bound together as one nation, but perhaps they hardly know it. Sometimes, too, long ages will pass by before all the old barbarism is got rid of. The 25 people belonging to a real State may not all be free the rich may oppress the poor ; there may be a ruling caste, and all the others may be little better than slaves but, when once real union has taken place, a State has been born, though it has yet to grow up. You may now go on to learn what purposes a State should always have in view, and what kind of work it should try to perform. To begin- with, you may safely take it for granted that the chief object aimed at by a State should be to secure the greatest possible amount of safety, comfort, and general well- being for all the people that compose it. In order to secure this object, the first and the principal thing to be settled is that all shall combine to secure the good of all, and that each must therefore give up the habit of acting quite independently, of doing things without considering what their effect will be on others : that is, every member of the State must be prepared to sacrifice his own freedom of action when such a sacrifice is necessary in order to promote the general welfare. Then, law and government are needed. It is plain that some person or per- sons must have the power to decide what duties must be per- formed or what conduct must be refrained from by the members of the community. In modern times and in free States it is believed that this power is best used when it is in the hands of the majority of the people. Further on in this book it is ex- plained how this matter is dealt with in New Zealand. It will suffice to say here that the people of New Zealand manage their own affairs almost entirely, and that our own State is probably as well governed as any that is to be found in the world. You may now consider what particular kinds of work a State should undertake. In most societies, whether large or small, some of the members give trouble to the others. The ruder the society the more trouble of this kind there is. In a community not yet formed into a State there arc always many men who, in fits of anger or from mere wantonness, are ready to assault or to kill any one whom they may dislike or who may have offended them ; and there are others who will not respect the rights of owners, but will take what does not belong to them whenever they can. Now, unless there is some power that can put this kind of thing down, every one feels himself very unsafe. A man whose neighbour was robbed or killed yesterday cannot be sure 26 that his own turn will not come to-day. It soon gets to be felt that this state of matters must be put an end to, that they who act thus must be restrained, and that it is not right that all should be made uncomfortable and unhappy through the conduct of some. Steps must be taken to make violent and dishonest people behave properly, and to punish them if they will not do so. All must combine to restrain those who are really the enemies of all. One of the first duties, then, that a State undertakes is to provide protection for all its members.. As time goes on people learn to submit to these needful re- straints, and even to take pride in doing so. Acts of violence become very rare. People learn to keep their wild and savage tendencies under control, and to get their pleasure and hap- piness in such ways as do not bring trouble or unhappiness to- others. If this process goes on it must in the end result that every one will find himself able to do just what pleases him without annoying others. To bring this about is to render a service of the highest order, and the State could hardly have a nobler aim than to arrange things so that every one shall be safe from all kinds of violence, and shall be free to do whatever pleases him, provided that what so pleases him does, not prevent others from enjoying the same freedom. Another duty of the State on the performance of which its very existence depends is to protect itself and its members from injury by a foreign State. In extreme cases it may be necessary for the State to gather all its forces together and fight with the utmost bravery in order to save itself from destruction. Unfortunately, most nations, as far as regards their relations with other nations, are still quite un- civilised, and choose to settle their disputes by brute strength and acts of violence instead of bringing them before Courts of Arbitration. While nations remain in this brutal condition it is to be feared that even the best and wisest States will sometimes have to go to war in their own defence. All writers on the subject agree in thinking that it is the duty of the State to protect itself and all its members from violence and robbery ; but many of them stop just there, and say that this is all that a State should do that, having given men freedom to go their own way, it should let them go that way. One of the first of living writers appears to hold this view very 27 strongly. When speaking of education lie says, " Conceding for a moment that the Government is bound to educate a man's children, then what kind of logic will demonstrate that it is not bound to feed and clothe them ? " But, as this writer believes that the State should afford protection, some one might ask him this question : " Conceding for a moment that the Government is bound to protect a man's children, then what kind of logic will demonstrate that it is not bound to feed and clothe them ? '* The fact is that the State is not bound either to educate or to protect a man's children, but it does both because the members of the State believe that both of these works may be done better by the people as a whole than by private individuals. Consider what hardship would be inflicted on us as individuals if as a State we said, " Well, we are going to take this writer's advice,, and do nothing but protect people. We are not going to carry their letters any more ; this work must be left to private individuals." At first the expense of sending letters would, of course, be enormous ; but, by-and-by, perhaps a company would take the matter in hand ; then there would be opposition, other companies w r ould be formed, and a great many more people would be employed in the work than there are now. These would have to be paid with part of the wealth of New Zealand, as the Post Office people are ; but there would be many more workers to keep, and so the cost of letter-carriage would be higher, and there would be a great waste of labour. Besides, the work would not be very well done. Those people that live in out-of-the-way places would hardly ever get letters at all without paying heavily for the carriage of them. One of the effects of this would be that people would be less willing than they arc now to settle in and open up places of this description, because they would feel that they were shutting themselves out from communication with the rest of the world. Thus we see that if the State, instead of undertaking the carriage of letters, let every man get his own letters carried, the work would cost a great deal more and would not be so well done. Nothing has been said about money- orders, savings-banks, parcels, and other things that it has been found possible for the Post Office to deal with ; but a very long chapter might be written about this extra Post-Office work and the inconvenience that would result from leaving it to private individuals. 28 A great many rather foolish notions ahout what the State should and should not do have been handed down to us from the evil times when there was no such thing as the kind of State that New Zealanders know. These notions belong to times when the people might have been divided into the rulers and the idle classes on the one hand, and, on the other, those who might fairly be called slaves, seeing that their function was to work for the other class and be governed by them. In some countries it has been even worse than this,, for a certain French king was able to say, " The State ! I am the State ! " Now, in New Zealand the people can say, "The State ! We are the State." Everything is in our own hands. We appoint this man to do this work, and that man to do that work ; and if we find that the work is well done we honour and respect the men that do it. It will be shown further on that New Zealand is one of many States that together form the British Empire and are sub- ject to the British Crown ; but practically, in our relations to the State and to one another, we New Zealanders know of no power outside of ourselves. In many countries, even at the present day, through the ignorance or cowardice of the people, who are still willing to be slaves, there is a power in which the people have no share ; but in this country the highest officers of the Government have no more power than the poorest Maori has, apart from that conferred upon them by the people of New Zealand. Well, then, seeing that there is no State outside of ourselves that we are indeed the State is it not rather ridiculous to look upon the State as an enemy that will do us harm if it can, and whose help we must do without if possible ? Why should we say that the State must not do this, and must not do that ? Why should we not make full use of our freedom to do what we think best ? What is to hinder us from combining to do what we believe will be done better by the whole of us together than it will if it be left to private in- dividuals ? It must be remembered that even protection of life might be left as a matter for private persons to manage. As a State we might say, "We will cariy people's letters for them ; but for the future every man must take care of himself it will make men hardier and more self-reliant." The reason why we do not say this is that we know, through our forefathers having tried this 29 plan, that it answers very badly. This leads us to the conclu- sion that it is impossible to lay down any fixed rule as to what the State, acting as a whole, should or should not do, and that each case must he dealt with as it arises. If experience has shown us that any work that most of the members of the State want done is badly done by individuals, there is and can be no reason why the State should not take it in hand, and try to- manage it better. And now let us attempt to state exactly what we mean by a State that is to say, a State in its perfect form. A State is a considerable society of persons who live under one particular system of law and government, and who combine to do the following work for the whole society and for each member of it in every case in which they consider united action necessary : (a) To protect each and all from being injured by the actions or through the negligence of any individual or class in the society, and to defend the whole community from injury by any individual or class, or by a foreign State ; (b] to- perform services for the whole people (or for individual per- sons in it), which, in the opinion of the State judging as a whole, are likely to promote the general welfare, and which cannot be as well performed in any other way; and ( through the Decisions given by Judges. These two causes the conduct of unruly members of the community and disputes between neighbours will surely lead in time to the establishment of some sort of council, like the runanga of the Maoris, to decide what shall be done with such offenders and to settle such disputes. In every case that comes before it this council will be sure to listen to the evidence of the persons who can give informa- tion with regard to the wrong committed, or who can tell anything that bears upon the dispute. The council will carefully consider the evidence, in connection with the customs of the people, and will at last decide how the offender is to be punished, or to whom the property in dispute belongs. Then, for the future 265 all who have been present at the trial and all who have been told about it will look upon the decision as a rule, and the ofteiier any particular kind of case is tried and decided in a particular way the greater will be the strength of the rule. After a very short time, when such a case comes to be tried, all that will have to be done will be to make sure that it is like those that have been decided before. As time goes on the number of rules made in this way will greatly increase, and at last it will be necessary to appoint some one who knows all the rules well, to act as judge. From time to time quite new cases will come up ; then the judge will not be able to fit these on to the old rules, but will have to consider how he can best make his decisions agree with the rules that deal with cases most like them. When once a State has been formed, and has given birth to a Government, and these rules have been adopted by the Government as its rules, and when once the Government has affixed penalties to breaches of these rules, they become positive laws.* Then very probably some kind of code or collection of rules will be made, if the people have acquired the art of writing. It is in this simple way that the great mass of the laws of every country has been made, except, of course, in countries like New Zealand, whose law had in the first place to be im- ported from the mother-country. Laws made by the Legislature. The other way in which law is made is this : The highest authority in the State simply says, " In future the law about this or that matter shall be so-and-so, and those who do not obey the laws will be punished in such-and-such a way," and this authority's command becomes the law at once. In New Zea- land, of course, the highest authority is the Parliament. The way in which laws are made by Parliament has been explained in Part III. * But even before this there may have been positive laws ; for the judge's authority, which is the basis of " case law," is plainly derived from, the sovereign authority, nearly always vested in early times, after the " father " has ceased to be the sole master and lawgiver, in the hands of all the members of a village community. 266 Cause of the constant Growth of Law. You will easily understand why it is that the law is con- stantly growing through the decisions of judges. In early times only the simplest kinds of cases have to be dealt with : but, as a nation progresses, new customs grow up ; new businesses are started ; new kinds of partnerships are invented ; cheques, bank- notes, and bills come into use ; merchants send ships to foreign countries, and establish trading-stations in them; colonies are founded : all of these things may cause disputes at times, and these disputes have to be settled by the judges. Their decisions, as was before explained, in time become law, and so the law grows very fast, and becomes a most difficult thing to learn. But the law not only grows; it changes too, and would change even though the Parliament never passed a single Act. As a nation grows older it very likely becomes wiser; at all events, our nation has become wiser. The people become more humane and sensible, and their ideas of what is right and what is wrong change to a certain extent. The judges change too, and, though they are, of course, bound to keep close to the laws, yet in deciding cases they will always have a tendency to make their decisions agree as far as possible with the common-sense of the time. These decisions will be the grounds for new decisions still more in agreement with the thoughts of the people. Then, again, able lawyers write books about the law, and their opinions have some weight with the judges, because these writers often bring to light things that the judges may have overlooked. Judges decide, too, to a large extent, how cases shall be conducted in the Courts. As time goes on a great many of the rules in use are found to be unsuitable or troublesome ; accordingly the judges alter these rules, or make others instead of them. In this way nearly all that part of the law that relates to the carrying-on of trials and suits has been at one time or another either made, or^more or less altered, by the judges. You will see now that the*very common notion that all law is made by Parliament is quite wrong. It is true that the Parliament, including the Governor, represents the highest authority of the State, that the law is based on this authority, and that the Parliament can change any law ; but it has not made the whole of the law, or even the greater part of it. 267 Comparison of Laws made by the Legislature with " Judge- made " Laiv. Each kind of law has its advantages. If Parliament thinks that anything is wrong, and that a new law would set it right, it can pass a law, and it often does so with excellent effect ; hut very often a new law passed hy Parliament spoils half a dozen old ones that there has been no intention of altering. On the other hand, a judge, when deciding a new kind of case, has to make his decision fit in with the old law as well as he can, and at the same time to he in agreement as far as possible with the common-sense of the men and women around him. Thus, what is called " judge-made law " or " case-law," and sometimes, though seldom correctly, " unwritten law," will nearly always work much better than laws made by the Parlia- ment. But, on the other hand, again, judge-made law caii never enable a nation to make progress in an entirely new direction ; a good law made by Parliament may and often does this. Legal Rights and Duties. The true and proper object of law is to establish and main- tain rights, and to prevent or do away with wrongs. The first question we have to answer, then, is, What is a right and what is a wrong? In Chapter IV. the work of the State was described : a part of this work is to protect each and all from being injured by the action or the negligence of any individual or class in the society ; to defend the whole community from injury by any individual or class ; and to make it possible for every one to do whatever pleases him, so long as what pleases him does not interfere with the freedom of others to do what pleases them, and does not hinder the efforts of the community to reach a higher stage of progress. This means, among other things, that the members of the State have to obey certain rules in order that all may be able to enjoy certain liberties and advantages. The general name for these liberties and advantages is "rights." You will presently learn much more exactly what a legal right is. In the meantime it may be said that the principal kinds of legal rights are personal rights and rights of property. A man's chief PERSONAL RIGHTS are () the right to personal safety 268 that is, to the free enjoyment of his life, his body, his health, and his character ; (b) the right to personal liberty that is, the power of going where he pleases, and freedom from any kind of restraint except such as the law itself may direct. Tsow, if the law gives men a right to the free enjoyment of, say, their health, it follows that no one may do anything to endanger his neighbour's health. A man may not make a drain, for instance, that will run under a neighbour's house, for by doing so he would expose his neighbour to a great risk of catching a bad fever. This neighbour would have a right to prevent the making of such a drain, and the law would protect him in the lawful exercise of that right, and, so far, he would be able to control the other man's conduct. A LEGAL RIGHT, then, is a certain amount of power given to one man by the highest authority of the State, which enables him to control the acts of another in some certain way. The person whose act is controlled, and who is liable to punishment through the law if he does not submit to the control, is said to have A DUTY. A legal duty may cause a man either to have to do a certain act or to refrain from doing one. Thus it is the legal duty of a banker to give gold for his notes, and it is every one's legal duty not to forge a banknote. Plainly, the existence of rights makes wrongs possible ; if a man has a legal right the man who interferes with him in the exercise of this right commits a WRONG. Wrongs will be dealt with pretty fully in Chapter XXXVI. THE RIGHTS OF PROPERTY give a man free use of, and power to dispose of, all that he has acquired in accordance with law, and make him the sole master of it. How Rights of Property came into Existence. It may be worth while to ask how these rights of property came into existence. We learn from history that amongst certain peoples all things were at first undivided and common to all, and formed a sort of single estate belonging to everybody, or perhaps we should say to every member of a tribe or group. But even then there must have been a right of property. If the things did not belong to anybody, the use of them did. That is, a thing belonged to a man while he used it ; just as, 269 although the seats at a tea-meeting belong to all those who go- to the tea-meeting, yet every one has a seat that is his own while he is using it. But this sort of ownership would soon be found to be very inconvenient. No one would be at the trouble of providing anything that he could possibly do without if his property in it ceased the moment he left off using it. No one would care about building a comfortable house or making a good garment if he knew that the moment he left his house a stranger might walk in and use it, or that the moment he took off his garment some one else would pro- bably put it on. Thus it would very soon be found necessary for the comfort of everybody that whatever a man made, or obtained in exchange for something that he had made, should be his own whether he was using it or not. Property in land must have sprung up in the same way. The soil produces little unless it is cultivated. No family would cultivate a piece of ground unless they could feel pretty sure of getting the crop as a return for their labour. This would gradually lead to a man's having a right to the piece of ground that he was cultivating, for he would naturally choose the best and most fertile land he could find, and would cultivate the same piece over and over again, perhaps for many years. Thus in time it would come to be recognised that a family owned the land that they occupied and cultivated. The right of property,, then, would seem to have sprung from two things (a) finding the material for a thing and making it ; and (b) the constant use of a thing that had before been common property. This would lead to a third principle namely, that he who takes a thing that no one else makes use of becomes the owner of it, and that it remains his till he shows by some act that he means to abandon it. Perhaps, too, we may add to this that the feeling gradually arose, after persons had begun to make things their own, that everything should have an owner. Every State, however, puts some limit to ownership. There are things so useful to all that each has to be prevented from making it his own. Streets belong to the State ; so do harbours, large rivers, and roads ; and many sound reasons might be given why land should be treated in the same way if all existing claims con- nected with ownership of land could be fully satisfied. CHAPTER XXXV. EIGHTS OF PKOPERTY; TITLE. LAWYERS divide things that may be held as property into Things Heal and Things Personal."* These terms came into use in the old times, when property that could be easily moved about was thought little of; the old English law-books say very little in- deed about such property. The writers of these books took great pains to explain correctly the rules that governed the possession of lands, houses, and the profits connected with them, probably because it was on the possession of such things that a man's im- portance most depended. They called these things real pro- perty ; all other things, things that might go with a man or be carried wherever he went, were paid far less attention to, and were called personal property. The distinction between real and personal property still subsists, but it is of far less practical importance than it was formerly. In New Zealand land may be owned in three different ways: it may be held by Native title, or through grant from the Crown, or through its having been lawfully acquired after being granted by the Crown. The possession of land by the Natives is entirely regulated by Native custom until it has been "passed through the Land Court " that is, until the ownership has been decided in accordance with Native custom by a Land Court ; the ordinary law cannot deal with it at all except in the way of protecting its owners in the possession of their property. When once land has been passed through the Court, and ownership has been settled, a grant from the Crown may be issued and the land can * These terms referred to the nature of the legal remedy adopted for re- covery : the remedy for deprivation in respect to real property was against the property itself, the res ; the remedy for injury in respect to goods and chattels was against the person. 271 be dealt with in accordance with the special laws that are in force at the time. A great part of the land sold by the Natives has been purchased by the Crown ; much of this Crown land has been sold, and some of it has been leased, to private persons. Sales of land by the Crown are made in different ways. Sometimes the purchase-money is paid at once ; sometimes payment is made gradually; in some cases no payment at all is required, but certain improvements made on the land give all the rights that in other cases are obtained by payment of money. In any case as soon as all conditions required by the law have been fulfilled a Crown grant may be issued, and the land may become the property of the person who has fulfilled these conditions. Title to Property. The special ways in which real property is held, or handed over from one person to another, would be an unsuitable subject even to attempt to deal with in a book like this ; but the law-courts are tending more and more to regard real and personal property in nearly the same light. As, therefore, the general rules that govern rights to the one kind of property and those that govern rights to the other kind are becoming on the whole much alike, we shall make no further distinction, but go on to speak of Title to Property in general. You must bear in mind that by the word " things " we do not always mean substances, but frequently only the rights con- nected with them. You are to understand, too, that by title is meant right of property in a thing, or, perhaps rather, the causes that give a man such a right. You may say that a title to a thing can be obtained in six different ways : (1) By taking possession of or holding it ; (2) by invention ; (3) by gift ; (4) by will ; (5) by contract ; (6) by bankruptcy. (1.) Title by taldng or holding Possession of. Any man may take possession of any wild beast of the field, bird of the air, or fish of the sea, except in cases in which there is a law forbidding him to do so ; and if a man has once lawfully seized an animal that is wild by nature, and tamed it, or if he keeps it confined on his own property, the animal is his, but if it escapes it may be again treated as a wild animal. If a man lawfully kills a wild animal it becomes his own. If a man's property 272 increases by the operation of nature the increase belongs to the owner of the original property. The young of animals and the fruit of trees are the property of the owner of the animals or of the trees. In the case of animals it is the owner of the mother that becomes the owner of the young ones. Under this head what is called " confusion of goods " is generally reckoned. If John and James are threshing corn with the same machine, and James, without John's approval or knowledge, mixes his corn with John's corn, then the English law gives the whole of the corn so confused to John. It does this to prevent fraud to prevent one man, for instance, from mixing his inferior corn with another's good corn and then claiming a share of the mixture. It may be added to what has already been said under this head that, generally, if I possess anything my title holds good against everybody that cannot show a better title to it. Before you can take away my boat you must not only show that my right to it is not perfect, you must show that you have a better right to it. You must not rely on the weakness of my title, but on the strength of yours. (2.) Title by Invention. The Crown has no power to grant to any one the sole right to sell a certain article. That was settled by a law passed in the reign of James I. But an excep- tion has always been made in favour of those who invent new manufactures, because to grant to such inventors the sole right to sell what they have invented does not interfere with a right possessed by any one else, and because such a grant encourages others to try to invent things that will be useful to the com- munity. The right given by such a grant is called ^patent- right, and the holder of it is called the patentee. The right is generally granted for fourteen years in the first place, though this time may be made longer. The inventor is allowed to register his invention, and this gives him all the rights of a patentee until it has been decided whether he ought to have the patent or not. Patent-rights are said to be given by Royal favour ; but they are never refused in proper cases that is, in cases in which the person applying for a patent shows that he is the true and first inventor; and that the invention is neither contrary to the law, hurtful to the State or to trade, nor gene- rally inconvenient. 273 \ Copyright is a privilege of a similar kind. This gives an author the sole right to print and publish his own original book. In New Zealand the law of copyright affecting books is that the author,, or the persons to whom he assigns his rights, shall have the sole liberty of printing for twenty-eight years from the day of first publication ; and, if the author be alive at the end of that period,, for the remainder of his life. Persons may hold copyrights for books, maps, pieces of music, drawings, plays, photographs, and many other things. Both patent-rights and copyrights may be given away, sold, or left by will. (3.) Title by Gift. Generally, a person may give away his property in anything with perfect freedom, provided that he is not under age, or insane, or deprived of his freedom. The law, however, is inclined to look upon gifts with some suspicion ; and if a man, by giving his property to others, defrauds a creditor, the law will not recognise the gift. A man may also assign his personal property to another by what is called a bill of sale. This trans- action -is not usually a gift, for there is generally a valuable consideration. In any case, however, he who assigns his goods generally keeps possession of them, and merely transfers some of his rights with regard to them to the person to whom he gives the bill of sale. But if he does this in order to cheat his creditors, and they can prove it, the bill of sale will not deprive the creditors of their rights with regard to the property assigned.* (4.) Title by Witt. Just as a man may give away his goods during his lifetime, so may he direct how the whole of his pro- perty is to be disposed of after his death, except such part of it as is required to pay the legacy duties. t This will (a) must be written; (b) it must be signed by the person who makes the will, or by some one who does it for him in his presence and by his direction ; and (c) it must be witnessed by two disinterested persons at the same time and in the presence of the testator and of each other. Any person may make a will if he is at least twenty-one years of age, of sound mind, and free from com- * The bankruptcy law has many stringent provisions to prevent the opera- tion of fraudulent conveyances or assignments. t Legacy duties, under that name, are not charged in New Zealand, but duties in the nature of both legacy and succession duties are imposed. The State prevents the successors of a deceased person from dealing with his property until these duties are paid or provided for. 18 274 pulsion. In certain cases infants that is, persons under the legal age of twenty-one years may make wills. A male of the age of nineteen and married, or a female if married and not under eighteen, may make a will. Before the passing of the Married Women's Property Act a married woman's will would generally have been useless unless her husband had assented to her making it; but a material change has been made, and a mar- ried woman can dispose by will of her real or personal property as if she were a single woman. If a man dies intestate-^ that is, without making a will his property, after the expenses of his funeral and all his just debts have been paid, is to be divided between his widow and his children, one-third to go to the wife and two-thirds in equal shares to the children. If there is no widow the children take the whole in equal shares. If there are no children the widow takes two-thirds and the intestate's father the remaining third. If his father is dead the mother takes this remaining third. If both father and mother are dead the third is equally divided among his surviving brothers and sisters. The whole of an intestate's property goes to his wife if he leaves no children, father, mother, brother, or sister sur- viving him. If there are neither children nor widow the whole goes to the nearest relatives-. Some person is always appointed, either by the man that makes the will, or by the Court in accordance with fixed rules on the subject, to dispose of property after the death of its owner. In New Zealand there is an officer called the Public Trustee, whose business it is to look after the property of intestates. This officer will also, for a very small charge, manage all business connected with wills. A person appointed to give effect to a will is called an executor ; but in cases where there is no will, or where no executor is named, the person appointed by the Court is called an administrator. (5.) Title by Contract. This is a very important part of our subject, because contract is one of the chief means by which "rights connected with property" come into being. Contracts in general might be classed in three different ways : The' first and most important method of classifying contracts divides them into special contracts and simple contracts. Special contracts are made by deed; simple contracts Iry word of mouth, and, in some cases, in writing. Most contracts are of the latter kind ; and for some t of the most important written evidence of the contract is necessary. For instance, any contract or sale foy which land or any interest therein is dealt with is of no force unless there is some written note of the agreement, made and signed by the party to be charged, or by his lawful agent. Secondly, contracts may be either express or implied. You may promise to give a tailor o for a suit of clothes, or you may simply tell him to make you a suit and send it home. In the first case you promise to pay; in the -second you imply that you will pay the proper price for the clothes. Again, if you give a carrier a bag of sugar to take up the country for you, he implies, by receiving it, that he will deliver it safe, and not lose it or let it get spoiled by the rain. Thirdly, contracts may be made either by principals or by agents. 16 John agrees to buy fifty dozen of eggs from James the contract is between the principals ; but if John sends his servant to make the same bargain with James ; s shopman the contract is made by agents. John and James are bound by the bargain, for the law says, " He who does a thing through another does it through himself." Contracts. A few words may now be said about some of the principal classes of contracts : A Contract of Sale takes place when the seller says that the price of his goods is so much, and the buyer agrees to give that price. If the sale is for ready money, and any part of the goods is handed over, or any part of the price, however small, is paid, the goods immediately belong to the buyer j but, unless the seller agrees, the buyer cannot take the goods away until he has offered the whole of the price to the seller. . What has been purchased in open market belongs to the buyer even if it has T>een stolen, unless the thief has been convicted : then the -buyer can be made to give up the goods to the proper owner. This rule does not apply to horses or to certain other kinds of property. Generally speaking, a contract of sale is not broken through the goods supplied being of bad quality, if the buyer has had a fair -chance of seeing them for himself : the law says, " Let the buyer take care of himself." It is his own duty to see that he 276 gets value for his money. But if a man sells another an ordinary article that is not fit for the purpose for which it is generally used, the contract has been broken. Contract of Bailment. An example of this kind of contract takes place when a visitor to a town delivers his horse to the keeper of an hotel ; the implied contract is that the hotel- keeper will deliver the horse again when the visitor leaves. Contract, of Insurance by Bills has been alluded to in Chapter XV ., where it is shown that bills are negotiable, and may to a large extent be used as money. Contract of Partnership takes place when two or more persons go into business together. When a partnership has been entered into, the contract of one member of the firm, as it is called,, generally binds each and all of the members with respect to any matter relating to the business in which they have engaged. This subject is too difficult to be further treated here. Contract of Guarantee takes place in such a case as this : John tells James, in writing, that he will see > him paid for all goods supplied by him to Thomas to the value of 20. Such contracts are of no use unless they are made in writing. If, at the time when the guarantee is given, James hears Thomas tell John that he OAVCS James nothing, while at the same time Thomas really owes James 30 already, John cannot be made to fulfil his contract. It may be said that generally no contract made by word of mouth, or even where there is a mere writing, is binding in law unless it is proved that there is a consideration that is, unless something is given for something. If I promise to pay you 10 I ought to do so, but the' law does not say that I must, The reason, probably, is something like this : John owes James nothing. John promises James .10. James had no right to this .10. Where there is no legal right there can be no wrong, so the law gives no remedy. Where there is a deed, however,, the existence of a consideration is implied. Title to Property concluded. (6.) Title by Bankruptcy. When a contractor does an act which in the sight of the law shows quite clearly that he will have to break some of his contracts, the law at once compels 277 liim to satisfy all his creditors as far as lie is able to do so, and also prevents him from making other contracts which might bring further loss, or might cause one creditor to be paid at the expense of the others. A very common act of bankruptcy is filing a schedule of debts in Court, and declaring inability to pay them. A man who cannot pay his debts or fulfil his contracts is said to be insolvent, and when the law would compel him to give up all his property to his creditors he is said to be bank- rupt. Insolvent persons often make arrangements with their creditors to pay them as much as they can. Creditors are often glad to take, say, 5s. in the pound rather than go to the expense of making a debtor bankrupt. There are many cases recorded in which an arrangement of this kind has been made with an insolvent person who has afterwards been fortunate in business and has then shown himself to be an honourable man by paying all his debts in full. You have now learnt the various means by which men may obtain a title to property. CHAPTEE XXXVI. EIGHTS OF PEKSONS IN PEIVATE LIFE; PRIVATE WRONGS. IN private life there are three principal relations which the law takes account of namely, those of master and servant, of husband and wife, and of parent and child. We shall deal with these relations in the order stated. But, first, we must say a few words about slavery. Slavery. There is one kind of relation between human beings that does not now exist in New -Zealand, that of owner and slave. Men may still be reduced to the condition of slavery for a period of years 'or for life (the State being, as it were, the owner during that period), but that is only when they have committed some crime which the law says shall be punished in that way, and we may say that 110 man is forced into this condition of slavery agains't his will. Men know what the law is, and if they break it of their own accord they must take the consequences. In the old times in New Zealand slavery was quite common; men and women were taken prisoners by warriors, and if they were not killed they were generally made slaves ; then they had no rights at all, and might be treated just as it pleased their owners to treat them. One of the many benefits that the Maori has received from the. pakeha is that it is no longer possible for him to be made a slave, for the English law hates slavery or anything like it. Master and Servant. ' There are three principal kinds of servants domestic servants, labourers or workmen, and apprentices. No one can be forced into any of these positions against his will unless 279 lie is the child of parents who are unable to maintain him, and thns or in some other way conies under the operation of the statutes dealing with destitute children ; and even in that case he can leave his place on reaching the age of twenty- one years. A master is bound to properly lodge and feed his domestic servant, and cannot discharge him in case of sickness or accident without giving such notice or wages as the servant could otherwise claim. If a master neglects to properly provide for an apprentice, or unlawfully does him bodily harm, this master may be very severely punished. If a servant is guilty of gross misconduct, or wilful disobedience, or constant negli- gence, he may be discharged without notice, and if he steals any of his master's goods his theft will be considered by the law as much worse than a common case of stealing. If a master sees his servant being bsaten by a man, he may assault the man in his servant's defence, and so may a servant defend his master. A master has to answer for a thing done by a servant in his absence, if the thing is done by the master's order, either expressed or implied. Thus, if I take my watch to a watchmaker to be repaired and his workman spoils it, the master must pay me for the damage done. Again, if you give your servant ,10 to pay an account with and he loses the money, the creditor cannot claim the money from the servant; he must get .it from you. For any crime, however, that a servant commits he must himself answer; it would be no excuse for him to say that it had been committed by his master's orders ; nor is a master bound by what a servant does entirely without his authority. Husband and Wife. , The relation of husband and wife is looked upon by the law as a contract, and it gives certain rights, as other contracts do. Every person is at liberty to enter into this kind of contract unless certain reasons against his doing so exist. The principal reasons are these : A man having a w r ife, or a woman having a husband still alive, cannot marry again. A lunatic, while out of his mind, cannot marry. No person may marry a very near relative ; for -instance, a man may not marry his grandmother. The rules with regard to the marriage of relatives differ in different countries. For instance, in New 280 Zealand, if a man's wife dies he may marry her sister, but in England he may not do this. Most contracts are. not binding if the persons making them are very young. Marriage is the most important of all contracts ; yet the law allows persons to marry long before they can be expected to fully understand what they are doing. There is a limit, but it seems to be much too low. No promise to marry is binding in law unless the person making it is twenty-one years old at the time of making it. Any person, then, may marry unless prevented by one or .more of the four causes that we have mentioned. But it is not lawful for a minister or other officer, authorised by law to conduct marriages, to marry any couple without a certificate from a registrar. The certificate may not be granted for any one under twenty-one years of age unless the consent of the proper person has .been obtained : this person is the father ; if the father is dead, the guardian ; if there is no guardian the mother is the proper person, if she is unmarried. The offences of making false statements with regard to age or of conducting marriages in an unlawful way may be "severely punished. A marriage must now be registered immediately after it has taken place. A man and his wife are for many purposes looked upon us one legal person. Before the passing of " The Married Women's Property Act, 1884," though there were some exceptions, it could be said generally that a man could not make a legal contract with his wife, and that a man and his wife could not bring an action the one against the other; and now, generally, in a criminal case they cannot give evidence the one against the other.* The old Roman law allowed a man to beat his wife smartly with a whip or a stick if she behaved very badly ; for slight offences, however, only moderate punishment was to be used. Now, happily, this idea of the relation between man and wife has died out, and the tendency of the law is more and more to consider the two as equals. Under the Married Women's Property Act, a married * There is a necessary exception to this rule as to evidence when, the hus- band or the wife is the person directly affected by the crime. For instance, in a case of violent assault of a wife by her husband, the wife could testify to the acts done. 281 woman is capable of acquiring, holding, or disposing of any real or personal property, just as she would be if she were a single woman. She can also enter into any contract in respect of and to the extent of her separate property, and she can sue or be sued as if she were single. If she is carrying on trade or busi- ness separately from her husband she can, in respect of her separate property, become a bankrupt. All the property that a woman has at the time of her marriage and all that she may afterwards separately acquire remains her separate property. If a married woman has any sums in a savings-bank m her own name, these sums are deemed to be her separate property until the contrary is shown. A wife may insure her oAvn or her hus- band's life for her own benefit. On the other hand, a husband is no longer liable for debts incurred by his wife before her marriage, except, generally, in so far as he has benefited through the incurring of these debts. It is proper to mention that, while the law takes away certain rights from a woman Avho marries, it also gives her certain kinds of protection. A husband is bound to maintain his- wife; and if he refuses -to do so, and she buys such things as are needful for persons in her station of life, the husband will generally have to pay for them, unless the wife, has left the husband of her own free will, or has a separate allowance regularly paid. A wife, however, is now bound to maintain a destitute husband, and also her child- ren. A wife generally cannot be sued in Court unless along with her husband, except in respect of her separate property. There' are even some smaller crimes w r hich she cannot be punished for, if it be shown that they have been committed by her in he^ husband's presence, as it is assumed that she has acted under his active compulsion ; but this must appear, for she would not be excused, if her husband were 'absent, merely because the crime was committed with his knowledge. If a husband deserts his wife she may obtain what is called a "pro- tection order," which will prevent the husband's interfering with her or her property if he should take it into his head to return. In certain cases of misconduct on the part of the hus- band or the wife a divorce may be obtained by the injured party, when the marriage will be dissolved. 282 Parent and Child. The relation of parent and child brings with it certain duties of parents to children, and of children to parents, and also gives parents certain powers over their children. These things arc generally well understood, if they are not always acted upon. We need not do more than refer to one or two special points. Every man must maintain as part of his family his wife's children born before marriage, as in the- case where a man marries a widow. In any case in which a child is sent to a reformatory, or is boarded out by the State, the parent must, if able, pay for the child's support. A father is, generally speaking, guardian of his children's property if they have any in their qwn right, and he has also the control of his children's persons ; any one taking away a child from his. parent or guardian by force or fraud is liable to severe punish- ment. The mother has no legal power over her children in the father's lifetime as against the father. The children of any parent who is unable to work are bound to maintain that parent, or to pay part of the cost of maintenance, according to their ability. Wrongs. In Chapter XXXIV. it was explained that the existence of rights niakes wrongs possible. You have gained a general idea of some of the principal kinds of rights, and you may now go on to consider the -nature of the different kinds of wrongs. Wrongs may be divided into two main classes first, those that merely need to be set right, and, second, those that require punishment, lloughly speaking, we may say that wrongs of the first class are injuries to individuals, which concern them principally; while the second class may or may not injure individuals, but are so hurtful to the community that the State forbids them, and makes it its special business to prevent them, and to punish those who commit them. There are, however, many wrongs that in some respects may fairly be said to belong to both of these classes. Private Wrongs. Civil injuries, or private wrongs as they are called, are those that we are now briefly to consider. The work of setting such 283 wrongs right may be done in two principal ways namely, by agreement of the persons concerned in a dispute, or by an action in a Court of justice. Often, also, a person who is wronged may set himself right. This is the case sometimes when the action of the law is too slow to serve the purpose. If you see a man beating your child severely, the law does not expect you to wait till you can summon the man to the Police Court, but allows you, if you can, to set the wrong right by beating the man to the extent that is necessary for the protection of your child. If your horse has been borrowed and not returned to you, and you see him standing in the road some weeks after, the law allows you to take the horse and keep him.. It does not allow you, however, to break into a stable and take your hors.e away by force, unless indeed the horse has been stolen. If rny neighbour makes a great fire on his own land, but too near my house, I may go upon his land and put it out. The law does not expect me to wait till my house is burnt down before I do anything to set the wrong right. If your neighbour's cow breaks through into your strongly-fenced garden and is eating your cabbages, you may drive her off to the pound, to be kept there till you have been paid for the damage done. In all these cases the law allows you^to set right the wrong that has been done to you. Sometimes all the persons that have had a dispute agree to settle it in a friendly way : he who has done, the wrong agrees to pay a certain sum of money, and the other says that that sum will satisfy him. In such a case the dispute has been settled by agreement. Another excellent 'way of settling difficulties con- nected with personal property is by arbitration. The person who has been wronged and he who has done the wrong agree to leave the whole matter to one or two arbitrators, who are really a kind of private judges. Where there are two arbitrators and they do not agree they call in an umpire. The decision of the arbitrators or of the umpire is called an award. This settles the whole thing as lawfully as if it had been decided in a Court of justice, and power is usually taken to enforce the award as if it were the judgment 'of a Court. 284 Actions. The other method of getting a wrong righted is by an action. An action is simply the lawful demand of one's right. As we shall in the next chapter pretty fully describe the way in which the work of Courts is conducted, it will he sufficient if we here mention very briefly the principal kinds of actions. An action may be a demand for redress of a wrong that comes either () from a breach of a contract mada> or (b] from one of the three following things : (1) Neglecting to do something that a man is bound by law to do; (2) doing some lawful thing improperly; (3) doing some unlawful thing. These are the grounds .on which demands for justice may be made by a person who thinks he has been injured by the action or neglect of another person. There were formerly many different kinds of actions actions for debt, 'on covenant, on promise, on detention, on trespass, and so forth but these have now gone out of use, and any person may bring his action, stating his wrong in plain terms. All claims which a person may lawfully enforce are now made by action generally, without regard to the circumstances under w r hich the claim has arisen. It may be added that generally no action can be successful if the person in jured has allowed his claim for redress to stand over for more than six years. CHAPTEE XXXVII. CRIMES; TEIAL; PUNISHMENTS. THE word " crime " is often used to mean a dreadful or abomin- able act that not only hurts somebody and causes danger to everybody, but also shows a specially wicked and depraved mind in the person that commits it. If we said, in ordinary con- versation, that John had committed a crime, we should very probably mean that he had done some very wicked deed that he ought not to have done and that he might have refrained from doing. Now, the meaning of the word wicked almost entirely depends on the feelings and opinions of the person that uses it. One person would consider it wicked to utter the smallest untruth ; another would boast of his cleverness in escaping from a difficulty by telling a plausible lie, and would laugh at you if you said that you thought his conduct had been wicked. One thinks it wicked to give needless pain to any living creature ;. another will call it sport to wing harmless sea-birds quite use- lessly, and to cause them to suffer horrible agony perhaps for months. From this we may understand that if the law under- took to prevent or punish wickedness it would have in hand a very difficult business indeed. The law wisely refuses to have anything to do with such a task. Crimes. What the State does is this : It comes to the conclusion that a certain line of conduct that it believes to be the safest .and the best for the community should be followed, and it then forbids in the clearest and plainest terms certain acts that would interfere with its plans, tries to prevent them by every means in its power, 286 and punishes those who commit them. Such acts are CRIMES. It is very true that this is just the place where law and morals meet, where what a man ought to do and what he must do are generally found together, seeing that very many of the acts that the State calls crimes are also acts that are considered wicked "by nearly everybody in a well-ordered State; but it is most important to remember that the very essence of a crime is not that it is a wicked act, not that it is hurtful to individual persons, but that it is an act that has been forbidden by the State, and that subjects the actor to punishment. Wickedness and Crime. All wicked acts are not crimes, neither are all crimes wicked acts. For a man to intentionally wear out his wife's life by his ill-temper and unkindness is perhaps- as wicked conduct as there could be, but it is no crime. When -Maoris in past times forcibly and unlawfully took away a surveyor's instruments if they wished to prevent him from doing work that they wrongly believed would injure their title to land which had already been lawfully acquired by the Crown, they committed a crime, but certainly their action was not wicked. . Again, though most crimes do great injury to one or more individuals, some crimes injure only the State as a whole. If a man forged a Government security, and so defrauded the Government of a sum of money, the injury done would fall almost entirely on the State as a whole. We see, then, that a crime is merely a wrongful act which is forbidden by the State, and which the State, because it has forbidden it. for reasons of its own, undertakes at all costs to prevent or punish.* Crimes and Private Wrongs. We may now see why a distinction is made between crimes and private wrongs. If a man borrows money from me and refuses to return it, his conduct is. injurious to me, but it does * Among the more usual crimes are the following : Murder, rape, man- slaughter, arson, bigamy, burglary, robbery under arms, horse-stealing, sheep- stealing, forgery, embezzlement, obtaining goods under false pretences, stealing from the person, larceny, receiving stolen goods, and indecent and violent assaults. For some of these offences the punishment is imprisonment with hard labour, for others penal servitude, for others again flogging and imprison- ment,- and for murder the punishment is death by hanging. 287 little harm to the State as a whole. The State therefore con- tents itself with providing means by which I may get the wrong righted, but it does not feel called upon to take steps to make the man pay his debt ; it leaves that to me, thinking that, if I am so careless as not to make use of the remedy provided by the State, the injury to me must be very small, and that I have no right to complain. But, if a man sets fire to mv house, the State at once takes the matter in hand. Believing that the act of setting fire to a house is so dangerous to everybody that, unless it is prevented by every possible means, there will be no peace or comfort for anybody, and that the safety of the .whole State will be endangered by the violence of individuals, the State has forbidden the act, has made it a crime, and fixed a punishment for it. Police. The State, then, makes it its business to prevent and punish crimes. In order to do this it uses various means : A police force is established, whose duty it is in the first place, by watchful care, to make the cases in which crimes can be committed as few as possible, and then, by their skill and courage, to make it almost impossible for actual offenders to escape punishment. In cases of sudden and violent death, when there is reason to suppose that the death may not have been the result of natural causes, an enquiry is held by a Coroner and a jury, whose business it is to determine, if possible, how and by what means the death occurred. Inquests, as they are called, may also be held to find out how fires have been caused. Courts are established to decide whether supposed offenders are guilty or innocent, and to determine what amount of punishment the law awards to those that are found guilty. Arrangements have also to be made for giving effect to the punishments awarded by the Courts, and for reforming the offenders and preventing them, if possible, from again committing crimes. In a .great many instances persons committing minor offences are dealt with summarily by a Magistrate. Among such offences are drunken- ness, vagrancy, indecency, and being a rogue and a vagabond. In the case of juvenile offenders many crimes that could formerly have been dealt with only by a jury, may now be disposed of in a summary way before Magistrates. 288 . How Liberty of Individuals is secured. On the whole, people are well protected in the following ways from possible injury through the action of the police and other officers engaged in giving effect to the law : All crimes are described by the law with- the utmost exactness ; in all cases the answer to the question, " Is such-and-such an action a crime ? " must be tf Yes " or " No." There may be some difficulty in finding the answer, but when it is found it must be in that form. The police have no kind of control over any one's actions if these actions are not a breach of the law. The police, and indeed private persons, may, without any warrant, arrest any person whom they see committing any felony, and the police may do so on suspicion. They are also, in certain cases of misdemeanour and offences punishable summarily, allowed to arrest without a warrant, but in other cases it is necessary to have a warrant from a Magistrate before apprehension. After his arrest a prisoner must be brought before a Magistrate for examination without unnecessary delay. At this examination the accuser must make out a case against the prisoner. If the police show gross carelessness or malice in falsely accusing a prisoner they can be punished. An action can be successfully brought against any one who -maliciously, and without reason- able or probable cause, charges another person with a crime of which that person is innocent. Bail, and Precautions against Unnecessary Delay. "When a Magistrate has decided that a prisoner should be tried by a higher Court, he must take reasonable bail if the offence is not of too serious a kind : that is, if any one will answer for the prisoner's coming to the Court to be tried at the groper time, and will bind himself to pay a certain sum of money if the prisoner does not appear, the accused must be set at liberty till the trial comes on. If the prisoner cannot get bail the trial must not be put off too long, and the Government may not at its own will change the time of the trial. Besides these rules there is the Habeas Corpus Act, which threatens with heavy penalties any judge or gaoler who refuses to take the steps required by law to prevent a prisoner from being unlawfully kept 289 in custody. The kind of protection thus afforded by English law has already been referred to in Chapter XXIX. Jury. Then, again, the law endeavours to protect a prisoner from being wrongfully punished, by directing that he shall be tried by his peers (that is, by his equals) . Accordingly, after a man has been examined by a Magistrate, who has decided that the charge against the prisoner has been so far proved that he ought to be tried by a higher Court; and a grand jury has decided, from consideration of the evidence given at the previous enquiry,"* that the indictment against the prisoner is a true bill to which he should be called upon to plead, he is brought before a judge and a jury, who go fully into the case. The jury may be taken as representing the State as a whole ; they are chosen almost at random, and arc generally a fair sample of the people amongst whom the accused has lived. The jury are sworn to give, in accordance with the evidence, a true answer to the question, " Is the accused guilty or not guilty ? " and they must all agree in giving their answer. Many people think that it is not a good plan to insist on complete agreement. It is to be supposed that, out of twelve men chosen at random, one at least may very possibly be in- clined to give an untrue answer, or may be ignorant or altogether foolish. Questions to be decided at a Trial, and who decides them. There are two different questions to be decided in nearly every trial. The first of these is (a] What is the law with regard to such an offence as is said to have been committed ? The second is (b) Has the accused person actually broken this law ? This second question may present itself in three forms : (1.) Did the act by which the law is said to have been broken really occur? (2.) Is the prisoner the person that did the act ? (3.) If the prisoner did the act, did he do it in such a way as to break the law ? Let us suppose that (a) has been decided, and that the answer to it is that the law that is supposed to have been * A presentment may be in certain cases made to the grand jury without any previous enquiry. 19 290 broken is that a man must not attempt to shoot another man. Then, if John is accused of attempting to shoot James, the three questions are (1.) Was a gun fired at James? (2.) Is John the maiuthat fired it ? (3.) If John fired the gun, did he do it wilfully ? Generally, all such questions as (a) are decided by the judge, while such questions as (b} } (1), (2), and (3), are left to the jury : that is to say, the judge determines questions of law, while the jury decide questions of fact. The judge states what the law is, and the jury decide whether John has broken it or not. Or sometimes the jury decide whether such-and- such an act has been done, and the judge states the law with regard to it. But there is another question that often has to be answered Srst of all namely, What part of the question that has to be decided is matter of law, and what matter of fact ? Now, the judge always has to decide this question, and we may expect that as time goes on more and more matters will have to be considered questions of law, and fewer and fewer will be con- sidered questions of fact that is, the work of the judge will increase, and that of the jury grow less. The only way to prevent this is to make laws as clear and plain as possible ; if the laws are not plain the judges may be actually driven to make juries mere dummies. Trial by jury is said to have many faults, but it is too old and too highly prized to be lightly given up until it can be very clearly shown that there is some- thing better to take its place. It is not at all certain that some better plan of securing people's liberty cannot be found ; but till it is found most people will think that the old system should be interfered with as little as possible. Punishments. The question of punishments to be awarded to those who have been found guilty of crimes has been already touched upon in Chapter XXIII. It is sufficient to say here that this matter is to a great extent left in the hands of the judge, for the law very often mentions the greatest punishment that can be given for a certain crime, but leaves it to the judge to say how much smaller it may be. Very severe punishments generally have a bad effect, because they turn the attention of the jury from the 291 question of the guilt or innocence of the person to the con- sideration of what he will have to suffer if they find him guilty. This may make them anxious to find every possible excuse for letting him off altogether. When the punishments given are not severe they are much more certain, and most writers on this subject now think that in almost all cases of first conviction light punishments are in all respects better than severe ones. The crime of wilful murder is punished with death. This is hardly the place to consider whether such a punishment should be inflicted in any case. A great many people think of it, however, in this way : Murder is a wrong that cannot be re- dressed. Hanging the criminal does no .good to the murdered man, and, besides, it takes away the murderer's chance of repenting. The State should not be revengeful : it should pre- vent the murderer from having a chance of ever repeating the crime, and there the State should stop. Much may be said in answer to this. It is the State's duty to prevent murder, and the fear of death will do very much to prevent a man from committing murder. It is quite true that when a man has made up his mind to kill another he thinks very little of the conse- quences, but there can be no doubt that in most cases fear of the consequences does prevent a man from making up his mind to commit the offence. It is true a murderer might be kept locked up till the end of his days, but as a matter of fact he very seldom is. It is very doubtful indeed whether it would not be more merciful to hang a man than to keep him living on as a thoroughly hopeless prisoner, and this is the only way in which the State can really secure itself against a repetition of the crime, except by killing the man that has committed it. Pardon. The Crown has the right of pardoning an offender after he has been tried, found guilty, and sentenced by the Judge. This right is often wisely exercised in cases where, all circumstances being considered, the operation of the law has been too severe ; and this is the only way in which, when a mistake has been made and a person has been wrongly convicted, the sentence passed upon him can be reversed. This, then, is a brief outline of what our law does with 292 persons accused of crimes. In our next chapter some account will be given of the rules of evidence and of the part that lawyers take in trials. We shall conclude the present chapter with a very short account of the way in which civil cases are managed cases that are not concerned with crime. Civil Trials. The whole of a civil trial may be divided into two parts. The first thing to be decided is, what is the real matter in dispute be- tween the two parties. The person that says he has suffered a wrong, the plaintiff) makes a statement of his case, generally with the aid of a lawyer; the defendant answers this statement in the same way, till the real point in dispute is arrived at. Then comes in the Court's work of deciding whether the facts stated on either side are real facts, and whether there are any rules in existence that can be applied to the case. Here, as in criminal trials, the Judge says what the law is, and the jury decides whether the facts are as they are stated, and, in most cases, what damages, if any, the plaintiff is entitled to. In many instances the party that loses his case is allowed to appeal to a higher Court ; or he may apply for a new trial. He may not do this on the ground that the Judge has acted unfairly, but only on the ground that a mistake has been made either in law or in regard to facts.* * It should be stated that juries in civil cases may be composed of four or of twelve jurymen. Sometimes, when a case turns on a legal point, it is settled without the aid of a jury, on a case agreed upon and stated to the Court, argu- ment being heard from both sides, and the Judge deciding. In civil cases juries are not required to give a unanimous verdict or any verdict at all. After they have considered the evidence for a certain time, and there is no chance of their being unanimous, a verdict of three-fourths of the jury will be received. If the jury cannot agree to a verdict in twelve hours, they may be discharged. CHAPTEE XXXVIII. EVIDENCE; COSTS; COURTS; CODES. LAW CON- CLUDED. As soon as it has been found, in any case brought before a Court, what the real point in dispute is, some method is needed for finding, in the quickest, cheapest, and most certain way, the value of the statements made by the witnesses who have been called to give evidence in favour of the different vieAvs taken with regard to the disputed point. Such a method is to be found in a system called the rules of evidence. Rules of Evidence. The objects of these rules are (1) To make the work short and simple by shutting out all evidence that from its nature is worthless ; and (2) to fix the way in which evidence must ba taken so that it may be as useful as possible. The first thing to be decided is, which side has to prove its statements positively. This is often decided by the state of the case when it comes into Court. If John states that James has received goods from him and has not paid him for them, and James admits this, but states that he has an equal claim against John for horse-hire, which John denies, then James has to prove that his claim is a good one, and that it is equal to John's claim. But generally what are called legal presumptions decide on whom the burden of proof lies. Such presumptions are If a will is in proper form and appears to have been properly witnessed and executed, it is a proper will ; if the opposite side deny that it is a proper will they will have to prove that it is bad. A prisoner is innocent in the eyes of the law until he is proved to be guilty : if John is charged with stealing sheep, he is not called upon to prove that sheep were not stolen, or that if they were stolen he was not the thief ; his accusers must prove 294 that the sheep were stolen and that he stole them : but if he had the sheep in his possession he would have to prove that he got them lawfully. A person having housebreaking-tools in his possession intends to use them for an unlawful purpose. If a person is proved to have destroyed a written paper that he ought to have produced, the reason is that it would have told against him. A person who holds "a. hill" has given something in exchange for it, there has been a consideration. When the question as to where the burden of proof lies has been decided in accordance with these and similar rules, other rules are applied to make the work as short and certain as pos- sible. One old rule was that the evidence of persons that had an interest in the result of the case could not be taken. At present interest in the result of a case is not a ground of objection to a witness, but it is a fair matter for comment by the other side. Of course, all evidence that does not bear on the point in dispute is refused. If the point to be decided were, whether a certain horse now in John's possession belonged to James, it would not be evidence if George said that John was not a proper person to have a horse, seeing that he had been fined some years ago for treating a horse cruelly. " Hearsay " evidence is generally refused. If John swore that he saw James taking a horse out of William's paddock the evidence would be received ; but, if he swore that he believed that James had taken the horse, because Henry had told him so, the statement would not be accepted by the Court. This kind of evidence / is refused for two good reasons : first, because it rests to a large extent on the witness's opinion as to whether he has been told the truth or not ; and, secondly, because the person who really gives the evidence is not in Court to be cross-questioned by the other side. Some kinds of hearsay evidence, however, are received, such, for instance, as reports of what has taken place in another Court. Another rule is that the best evidence must be produced. For example, if an agreement to sell a horse has been made in writing, word-of- mouth or what is called parol evidence that such an agreement had been made would not be taken. Again, evidence with regard to the nature of a receipt for money paid would not be received unless there was very good reason why the receipt itself could not be produced. 295 How Evidence is taken. We must now say a few words about the manner in which the evidence of witnesses is taken. The best plan is that of subjecting the witnesses to examination in open Court, the ex- amination being followed by cross-examination. Cross-examina- tion is used to discover the reasons for the witnesses' answers, and to show whether the answers are worthy of belief. In cross-examination leading questions may be put, but in exami- nation-in-chief they may not. A leading question takes such a form as this : " Did you not look through the window and see the prisoner setting fire to a heap of paper placed near the wall ? " This is called a leading question, because it is plainly intended to lead the witness to say " Yes/' Evidence is generally taken on oath, but persons who object to make oath may now be required to affirm. Many people entirely object to the use of oaths in Courts ; they think that oaths cannot bind people who do not mind taking a false oath if it seems safe to do so, and that those who would not take a false oath would almost certainly not tell a direct lie. They believe, too, that it is irreverent to invoke the Sacred Name when the object is perhaps to settle some petty quarrel between neighbours. Perhaps oaths really are useless in the case of truthful people, and fail to make liars tell the truth. In any case, it is clear that the punish- ments now inflicted for perjury or false swearing could be just as easily attached to telling lies in a Court of justice. There is a kind of difficulty that often occurs in Courts. Doctors and others are called to give evidence about matters that judges and juries cannot be expected to understand. In these cases the rule is that a skilled witness's evidence may be believed in matters relating to his own art. Where there is opposing evidence in such cases it is often difficult for the Court to find which is the more worthy of belief. Lawyers and Advocacy. Law is a very large and difficult subject, and it would take any man several years to get even such a moderate knowledge of it as would enable him, if any one did him a wrong, or accused him of doing a wrong, to set about getting himself put right in the proper way. There is an old and very true saying, 296 that a man who is his own lawyer has a fool for his client. Suppose that a man has a claim brought against him which he considers altogether unjust : if he determined to resist this claim, he would have to find out how the Court business was conducted and what had to be done in his own particular case ; to get together all the evidence in his own favour and to learn the weak points in his opponent's case ; he would have to state his facts in a plain and simple way so as to show that he was right and his opponent wrong ; and he would have to know what rules of law were in his own favour, and to show that those that his opponent relied on were insufficient. Not one untrained man in a thousand could manage such a business : if such a man came into Court he would afford the clearest proof of the truth of the old saying ; he would look, and indeed be, a very fool as far as his case was concerned. Nothing could help him unless the judge took pity on him and spent a great deal of time in trying to get to the bottom of the matter. Now, this is just what a judge cannot do unless under very extraordinary circumstances. If this kind of work were a judge's duty, perhaps a hundred judges would not be able to get through all the cases now dealt with in the New Zealand Courts. It will be seen therefore that lawyers and advocates who do the work of arranging and conducting cases in Court are most useful people, and that we could not well do without them. Some people think that the work done by lawyers is immoral that to make the worse appear the better cause is, and always must be, wrong. No one admits the truth of this latter statement more fully than lawyers themselves, and if they see one of their number making it a business to take up bad cases and make them appear to be good ones they look upon him as mean, and unworthy to belong to their profession. It should be borne in mind that it is only in very few cases that all the right or all the wrong is on one side, and that were it not for the aid of lawyers it would be often quite impossible to decide how the least wrong might be done. Costs. The Great Charter says that justice is not to be sold ; and it may be asked why a man should have to pay the costs of a suit if he loses his case. It is, in many cases, through the 297 fault of the law itself, which it is the State's work to make perfect, that things are so mixed up as to render it a long or a troublesome business to find what the law is. It may be true that the law is faulty only because the task of making a set of plain and easily understood laws that would meet every case is so difficult that no State can perform it properly ; but, plainly, the State has no right to make the unfortunate person that has been proved to be least able to understand the law, bear the whole cost of a failure caused by the State's being unable to make plain and simple laws. It may be said in reply to this that in the great majority of cases it is not the law that is in question, but the facts ; that these must be stated and proved by witnesses or other testimony ; that it is this statement and proof that form the principal part of the expense ; and that in very many, cases disputes are not caused by real uncertainty either with regard to law or facts, but by the perversity of individuals, and that it is not a matter for regret when the penalty for such perversity takes the shape of the costs of a lawsuit. It may also be urged that the costliness of law makes people very careful not to commit wrongs, for they know that if they do commit them they may have to pay heavily for it. The expense tends also to prevent people from constantly going to law about trifles. There is, however, one very sound objection to the system of costs : a rich man may get redress when a poor man cannot ; a poor man may have to put up with a wrong that a rich man could easily get righted. This objection is being gradually met in various ways by making the law simpler and plainer, by reducing costs, by allowing important cases to be tried in the cheaper Courts, and by various other means that need not be mentioned here ; but perhaps it would, on the whole, be an improvement if at any rate costs of Court were quite done away with. Courts. Courts are of different ranks, so to speak. In New Zealand, for instance, we have Wardens' Courts, and Resident Magis- trates' Courts, District Courts, the Supreme Court, and the Court of Appeal. The great majority of cases brought into Court are of a very simple character, the facts being easy to discover, and the rules of law referring to them very plain. Other cases are 298 more difficult and important; and some could not be properly settled in any but the highest Court, seeing that they are of such a character as to render it necessary to decide points that have not come up before, or to apply old laws to new kinds of cases. Now, the decisions given in such cases will afterwards become part of the law, and it is therefore most important that they should be dealt with by the wisest Judges and the cleverest lawyers that can be found. Perhaps it would be well to make all cases begin in a lower Court, so that they might be settled there if possible, and reach the highest Court only after the lower Courts had proved themselves unable to deal with them. In criminal cases the right of appeal might be allowed to the Crown as well as to the prisoner. Codes of Law. We have seen that there arc really three principal ways in which law comes into existence. Our Parliament makes laws, or statutes, as they are called ; customs gradually arise in the State, judges have to take these into account, and gradually they become law too; lastly, we have seen that a great deal of our law has come into existence through the mode of working the law itself. These three kinds of law are to be found not only in our own but in every State, and in some countries it has been at certain periods thought desirable to gather together all the laws or a great part of them, and to form them into collections called Codes: In Rome, in very early times, such a code was made, and it was called the Laws of the Twelve Tables, because the laws were written on great slabs, which were set up in the Market- place, where everybody could see them. Many centuries after another famous code was made by one of the Roman Emperors. This is much admired and studied even at the present day. Napoleon did at least one good thing for France : he, with the aid of the ablest lawyers, had a code drawn up, which has made both law and justice much easier to get in France than it is in most countries. The work of forming a Code of Criminal Law has also been going on in New Zealand for many years, and it is perhaps not impossible that the work of putting the whole of the law into a code will be undertaken sooner or later. It might, then, be worth while to ask what are the chief advantages to be 299 gained from such a code, and, also, how the disadvantages con- nected with it may be overcome. The principal advantage to be derived from a code is that the law would no longer be hidden away in musty books or in lawyers' heads, and that every man who wanted to get a clear idea of what the law on any particular point was would be able to do so by simply turning to the chapter that referred to the subject about which he wished to obtain information, instead of having to look for that information in vain, as is the case while the laws are so mixed up and confused that no one but a trained lawyer can understand them. A code would not make every man his own lawyer, but it would enable a man to get some idea of the work that his lawyer had to do for him. It is true that a code made in one age becomes in some respects unfit for the next age; but then, it enables everybody to see what changes are needed, and prevents the law from going on for centuries becoming more and more unsuited for ^the people whose lives it is supposed to regulate. Any custom that is decidedly bad will, if it is authorised in a code, be soon got rid of, because everybody will object to it. Thus the law will constantly be getting changed for the better. The law will be easier to understand, it will be better known and much more certain, and people will have less occasion to go to law, seeing that the cases in which they can make mistakes about their rights will be far fewer than they are now. Some writers on this subject seem to think that the laws will be changed so fre- quently that much evil will result. They believe, rightly, that no real experiments can be made in law-making, for if a bad law is once passed it becomes part of the whole system, and people soon get into the way of obeying it; therefore, they say, make as few changes as possible. But this seems to be 'a case in which a line must be drawn between constant change and no change at all. The proper drawing of the line must, like so many other things, depend on the wisdom and prudence of the members of the State, or, rather, of those who are appointed by them to make and administer the laws. At any rate, it cannot be wise to prevent the alteration of bad laws. It is true that the changes may not do very much good ; but then, again, they may. Law& known to be bad can produce only bad effects. 300 Conclusion. We may well conclude this portion of our work by stating what the functions and character of law are, almost in the words of the writer from whom many of the best ideas expressed in this part of the book have been obtained : What steadies man and keeps him to his purpose, protecting all from the defects of each, and defending each against the pressure of all ; kind and yet stern ; standing for the past, the present, and the future ; commanding all, yet whispering to each is LAW. PART V. THE LESSONS OF HISTORY. CHAPTEE XXXIX. THE FUTURE. WHAT TO AVOID. CAUSES OF THE DECAY OP NATIONS. IN the previous chapters we have tried to show how State life begins, to describe the growth of a State, and to give a clear idea of what our own State actually is and does. We have given a pretty full account of the various means by which the work of the State is done and its life is maintained, and have endeavoured to explain why it is that the conditions under which we live are just what they are and not altogether different, and to show what results spring from one kind of social con- ditions and what from another. We have set forth the principal State customs and laws, both those that have come into being through the growth of the State, and those that the State has purposely instituted in order to secure its own safety, along with the welfare and progress of the individual men, women, and children that are members of it. In order to do our work properly, we have often had to refer to the past, even to ages long gone by : by this means we have sometimes found it possible to explain things that we should have been unable to account for if we had kept our minds fixed on the present time and on the things that we see going 011 around us. We have now done with the present; what we wished to say about it has been said, and all that remains for us to do is to try to learn from the past a few more lessons that may serve as guides in the future. It is seldom either wise or safe to speak with certainty about what is going to happen : no one can know exactly what will come to pass next. "All the world's a stage/' and Time is the great scene-shifter. No one can take Time's 302 place. In social matters things do not occur twice in exactly the same way; similar events take place under altered circum- stances, and the circumstances change so quickly that we cannot take proper account of them. If we could, it would probably be possible to foretell State changes just as it is possible to indicate the very minute when the next total eclipse of the sun will take place. But the sailor, though he cannot forecast the weather with any great certainty, expects and prepares for a dreadful storm when he hears the wind sullenly moaning afar off, and feels the rise and fall of his vessel as she is moved by a mighty swell; when he sees the black clouds gathering in the sky, and observes that the mercury in his barometer is all the while sinking rapidly just because he has formerly seen storms follow these threatening signs. So we, by reviewing the past, and carefully noting what has happened when States have fallen into certain conditions, may learn what we ought to do and what we ought to avoid. We, too, like the sailor, are making a voyage, and our ship is the State. Our voyage, it is true, is a very long one and the crew will often change as time goes on, and we are all the while travelling from the past that we know something of to the future that we know nothing of: it is not a journey from one well-known port to another that we are making; it is really a voyage of discovery. But these features of our expedition render it all the more necessary that we should endeavour to obtain those things that can give us the most useful help. These are wisdom, skill, and prudence based on knowledge gained through studying the histories of similar voyages. Let us, then, call in the aid of his- tory, which contains our ship's log-book, along with those of similar ships, and see where and how some of the greatest dangers have been met with by other ships going on such voyages : especially let us try to find out why so many of these State ships have had to lie at anchor for long periods, till, in fact, they have become rotten and useless ; and how it is that so many others have gone down with all hands on board. The Lesson that Egypt teaches. Of all the nations of the world, Egypt has the longest his- tory. During the last hundred years learned men have been 303 gradually finding out how to read and understand the writings of the ancient Egyptian people. These writings have taught us a great deal that is well worth knowing. We can here only just glance at one or two points. Some five thousand years ago Egypt was already a great nation. Under a king named Seno- feru, who reigned about that time, the great mass of the people, though poor, were happy. The rulers of Egypt had not yet learned to consider the lower classes as being of no import- ance. No sign of regular training for war or of the existence of a class of fighting men is to be found in the records of that period. The greatest men of the age spent their time in attending to the culture of the soil, and in directing the dif- ferent handicrafts of the people. But even then a permanent governing 1 class was growing up, and this class was by-and-by to help to bring the country to ruin. About fifteen hundred years after this, or three thousand five hundred years ago, Egypt reached the greatest height to which she has ever attained ; but now causes of decay had come into existence, and had already increased to so great an extent as to cause her soon to fall very rapidly from her lofty position. In the reign of Aahmes Egypt had become a great military State. The war-horse had become the most important animal. Egypt was no longer a nation of farmers ; she had become a nation of soldiers. The governing classes and the priests had greatly increased in num- bers. All offices were given by the King's favour. Justice could no longer be obtained. No gentleman worked with his hands. The mass of the people had very hard times ; their work was to pay taxes, to serve as common soldiers, or to erect public buildings. As might have been expected, the heart was soon eaten out of the nation. The power of Egypt appeared to increase for a time, but all at once the nation began to topple over the head was too weighty for the weak body to carry ; its rise had been slow, but its fall was rapid, and it fell to rise no more. That is to say, Egypt has never again been a good country for the mass of the people ; a time when it could be said that the people, even though poor, were happy, has never come again. Occasionally, indeed, the nation has regained some- thing of its former splendour generally under foreign rulers but it has never since been a happy nation. At present, through 306 has been now lying at anchor for more than two thousand years, and,, as far as we can judge, has become thoroughly unsea- worthy. It may be that China's condition is .to some extent owing to the system of competition that exists in the country. Success in China means success at examinations. Men can do only so much work if all the cleverest men in a country spend their lives in preparing for examinations in history and literature, they can have neither time nor strength for studying what is going on around them, and for trying to make the future better than the past. India. India is and ever has been a grand country, and it is in- habited by an intelligent and keen-witted people ; but the people of India have always been divided into sects and castes, unable or unwilling to combine for the common good. India therefore has been an easy prey to foreign conquerors. Her people, never having been able to make good their claim to the produce of their labour, have always had enough to do to pay the taxes needed to satisfy the greed of these conquerors and to pay rent to the classes that have established a right to the greater part of the produce of the land. While engaged in this work the people of India have had no opportunity of attending to such matters as the prevention of the famines which occur every few years and sweep off millions of the inhabitants. Per- haps England may in the end be able to do what she now earnestly desires to do to teach the people of India how they may become fit to be freemen, and to be free as England's own people are free. England is now perhaps more anxious to do this than she was formerly, through having been herself taught, by a wide-spread and dangerous mutiny among the Sepoys, that governing an intelligent but down-trodden nation is not quite the safest kind of work. For a great number of years, while India was governed by a body called the East India Company, England taught India nothing except that a weak and divided multitude can expect but little consideration at the hands of a wealthy ruling class anxious to become still more wealthy ; even if the nation as a whole, of which this class forms part, loves freedom and hates tyranny. Perhaps the English people gene- rally got too much into the way of looking upon India as a 307 country from which much wealth could be obtained, and as a place to which young men could be sent to make their fortunes. Perhaps also Englishmen forgot or did not know that this wealth and these fortunes could be obtained only out of the produce of the labour of a half-starved people. It mu~st not be thought that England has been more unjust than other nations. It is quite the other way. Peoples that have come under the control of England have probably been better treated by her than they would have been by any other nation. But it generally takes nations a very long time to learn to be merciful and thoroughly just to races that are weaker than themselves to treat a weaker people, for instance, as the English have treated the Maoris. France. In the last century the people of France although their country, taking it altogether, is one of the most productive in the world had been reduced to great poverty and misery, partly by the long wars with England and other countries, undertaken chiefly to please the vanity of the King, Louis XIV. ; partly by the extravagance and waste that prevailed in France under the government of Louis XV. and his favourites ; and partly by the luxury and idleness of the nobles. The lower and middle classes had had to pay the whole of the cost of this folly and wicked- ness of the kings and the nobles, without ever being allowed to take part in the management of affairs, and had had besides to put up with numerous hardships and vexations which it is not necessary to mention here. The condition of the mass of the lower class of French people had become most pitiable. Everybody saw that a change must take place ; and at first nearly everybody tried to make the change gradual and safe. This was impossible. The injustice of centuries had to be swept away, and at once. The oppressed became for a time the oppressors, and, unfortunately, the innocent were too often punished with the guilty. At last, however, after passing through a terrible revolution, and a perhaps still more terrible despotism, France was saved, but in such a way as to teach us that a State is in very great danger when one class has run up>a long bill that another class has to pay by making great sacrifices. 304 heavy taxation, forced labour, and useless war, the mass of the people of Egypt are in a pitiable condition. Greece. Athens was once the leading State of the world, not indeed in power and wealth, though she was able, almost alone, for a considerable time to keep the gigantic power of Persia at bay, and afterwards, with the assistance of Sparta, another Greek State, to humble it to the dust, but in the nobler fields of manners, thought, and the fine arts. In these she was mistress and teacher of the nations. She and her sister States fell through petty local jealousies and distrust. Each province, and especially Athens, wished to be the first ; and each envied the success of the others. Had all the States of Greece, belonging as they did to one noble and highly-gifted race, combined and formed one powerful State, they might have ruled the world, and have civilised it long ago. As it was, they spent their strength in petty squabbles, and they sank at last, to rise no more. Rome. Home ruled the world for ages, and did very much to civilise it. She fell through two principal causes. First, her freemen allowed their love of party to become greater than their love for the State : the result was that the power which the people had gained after many a valiant struggle with a governing class fell first into the hands of individuals such as Sulla, Marius, Pompey, and Caesar, and the Emperors who followed them, and by-and-by into the hands of the soldiers, most of them foreigners. The other, and perhaps the true and original, cause was the action of bad land-laws, and the failure of all attempts to really change them for the better. The Roman State was formed by the union of great families or clans. At first the State held a considerable part of the land, and received rent for it from those who made use of it. But much of the land belonged to the clans : part of this was treated as common, and some of it was portioned out as private property. The quantity of land thus disposed of was small. About an acre and a quarter became the private property of each household. By-and-by, however, a class of great landowners grew up. Lands were 305 continually being acquired by conquest from neighbouring peoples : these were supposed to be retained as State lands, unless parts of .them were distributed by the State itself; but, usually, large portions fell at last into the hands of wealthy individuals. Then, again, the Roman laws regarding debt were very severe, and, if a small landowner owed his neighbour money and could not pay it, the land would have to be handed over to satisfy the debt. Thus, in one way and another, through want of watchfulness on the part of the State, individuals gained possession of, or in some cases a claim to the use of, considerable portions of the State lands as well as of the lands of the clans. The lands were, to a large extent, worked with slave labour, the slaves often being prisoners taken in war. Many attempts were made to break down this system. Laws were passed limiting the quantity of State land that a single citizen might hold, and the number of cattle and sheep that he might run on the State commons. But these excellent laws Avere allowed to fall into disuse, and the bad customs, being at last recognised by the Courts and winked at by the State, gradually came to have the full force of laws. Thus it came about that immense estates swallowed up the small farms around them, and before very long Rome was ready to fall. Through these bad laws, enormous wealth and great poverty grew up side by side. The wealthy landowners became the slaves of luxury, idleness, selfishness, and vice ; and the old farmer-soldiers and their descendants had to crowd into Rome, where they gradually became a degraded city-population that had to be supported and amused with means supplied to a large extent by the tribute paid to Rome by foreign countries. Thus at last Rome fell because there were no real Romans of the old stamp left. China. China was a great nation when England was still peopled by savages. She is a great nation still, but no improvement takes place in her condition. The Chinese long ago came to believe that they knew everything worth knowing, and that no good was to be got from contact with other nations. By dis- couraging foreign trade and keeping themselves to themselves the Chinese stopped the progress of their State ship, which 20 306 has been now lying at anchor for more than two thousand years, and, as far as we can judge, has become thoroughly urisea- worthy. It may be that China's condition is ,to some extent owing to the system of competition that exists in the country. Success in China means success at examinations. Men can do only so much work ; if all the cleverest men in a country spend their lives in preparing for examinations in history and literature, they can have neither time nor strength for studying what is going on around them, and for trying to make the future better than the past. India. India is and ever has been a grand country, and it is in- habited by an intelligent and keen-witted people ; but the people of India have always been divided into sects and castes, unable or unwilling to combine for the common good. India therefore has been an easy prey to foreign conquerors. Her people, never having been able to make good their claim to the produce of their labour, have always had enough to do to pay the taxes needed to satisfy the greed of these conquerors and to pay rent to the classes that have established a right to the greater part of the produce of the land. While engaged in this work the people of India have had no opportunity of attending to such matters as the prevention of the famines which occur every few years and sweep off millions of the inhabitants. Per- haps England may in the end be able to do what she now earnestly desires to do to teach the people of India how they may become fit to be freemen, and to be free as England's own people are free. England is now perhaps more anxious to do this than she was formerly, through having been herself taught, by a wide-spread and dangerous mutiny among the Sepoys, that governing an intelligent but down-trodden nation is not quite the safest kind of work. For a great number of years, while India was governed by a body called the East India Company, England taught India nothing except that a weak and divided multitude can expect but little consideration at the hands of a wealthy ruling class anxious to become still more wealthy ; even if the nation as a whole, of which this class forms part, loves freedom and hates tyranny. Perhaps the English people gene- rally got too much into the way of looking upon India as a 307 country from which much wealth could be obtained, and as a place to which young men could be sent to make their fortunes. Perhaps also Englishmen forgot or did not know that this wealth and these fortunes could be obtained only out of the produce of the labour of a half-starved people. It mu"st not be thought that England has been more unjust than other nations. It is quite the other way. Peoples that have come under the control of England have probably been better treated by her than they would have been by any other nation. But it generally takes nations a very long time to learn to be merciful and thoroughly just to races that are weaker than themselves to treat a weaker people, for instance, as the English have treated the Maoris. France. In the last century the people of France although their country, taking it altogether, is one of the most productive in the world had been reduced to great poverty and misery, partly by the long wars with England and other countries, undertaken chiefly to please the vanity of the King, Louis XIV. ; partly by the extravagance and waste that prevailed in France under the government of Louis XV. and Jris favourites ; and partly by the luxury and idleness of the nobles. The lower and middle classes had had to pay the whole of the cost of this folly and wicked- ness of the kings and the nobles, without ever being allowed to take part in the management of affairs, and had had besides to put up with numerous hardships and vexations which it is not necessary to mention here. The condition of the mass of the lower class of French people had become most pitiable. Everybody saw that a change must take place ; and at first nearly everybody tried to make the change gradual and safe. This was impossible. The injustice of centuries had to be swept away, and at once. The oppressed became for a time the oppressors, and, unfortunately, the innocent were too often punished with the guilty. At last, however, after passing through a terrible revolution, and a perhaps still more terrible despotism, France was saved, but in such a way as to teach us that a State is in very great danger when one class has run up>a long bill that another class has to pay by making great sacrifices. 310 (A-.) From the Government's making things dear when they might be cheap. (I.) From the State's treating any class unjustly, either by imposing special burdens on them or by granting them spqcial privileges. Many readers may be surprised at finding no mention made here of the positive check referred to in Chapter XXI., and they may be inclined to think that the greatest and most frequent cause of danger to a State over-population has been wrongly omitted. The fact of the matter is that history does not teach us that over-population has ever really been a cause of danger to any considerable State. Reason teaches us that over- population might be a cause of terrible danger, but we learn from history that long before Nature's check to the increase of the number of people can even begin to work at all, much less to cause danger to any community that deserves to be called a State, man himself invents some means of checking this growth. This has been the case with both India and Ireland, for example ; for, though both of these countries are quite as well fitted for supporting a dense population as England is, neither of them is half so densely peopled.* We may say, then, that, while over-population is a very possible cause of danger, history has as yet given us no reason to say that it has been the actual cause of danger to any considerable State. * England has about one person for every acre and a half, India one person for every three 'and a half acres, and Ireland not one person for every four acres. Even China has not one inhabitant for everv two acres. PART VI. INDIVIDUAL CONDUCT. CHAPTEE XL. RIGHT CONDUCT OF THE INDIVIDUAL IS NECES- SARY FOR THE WELFARE OF THE STATE. THOUGH a machine may be skilfully planned and have all its parts well constructed, yet unless the material of which it is made is good the machine is sure to break down before it has been very long in use. So, no form of government can work well unless the members of the State who have to live under it are intelligent and well-behaved. Well-devised laws and sensible customs will do much to secure right conduct ; but something more than these is needed : the members of the State must have right motives if the laws and customs are to produce good results. If the members of the State have wrong motives, they will do what is right only when they think that right conduct will, on the whole, pay them better than wrong conduct. What is the Best Motive, and how are we to find it ? In this book we have already dealt pretty fully with laws and customs. In this, the final chapter, we are to say a few words about the motives that govern individual conduct, and to attempt to indicate the kind of motive that is most likely to make individual conduct tend towards the highest welfare of the State. The question that we have to try to answer is a very im- portant and difficult one. It is this : What is the best motive, and hew are we to find it ? How shall a man decide what he ought to do, and also why he ought to do it ? By motive we mean that prevailing impulse to action which, whether it be the result of habits or the cause of their being formed, is the guide that regulates a man's conduct. 312 Will the Consideration of Man's own Nature lead to the Discovery of the Best Motive ? Experience lias taught us that when we are searching for anything that we want it is generally well to sec if that thing is close at hand, before we go to distant places to look for it. If a man wants his knife the first thing that he does is to put his hand into his pocket and feel if it is there. Let us also, in our search for the best motive, examine ourselves and see whether there is any- thing in our own nature that will enahle us to decide what this best motive is. If we fail there, we must look for it in the outside world, in the circumstances that surround us ; if we cannot find it even there, we shall have to conclude that it must he found, if at all, in that mysterious region which lies outside of the area that our ordinary senses can take account of. Is our Desire to find Pleasure and avoid Pain the Best Motive ? In the first place, then, let us consider what it is that gene- rally makes a man act in one way rather than in another what really seems to be the most powerful motive. It seems certain that man is, to a very great extent, ruled by two sovereigns, whose names are Pleasure and Pain.* Pleasure tells him what to do ; Pain tells him what to avoid. There can be no doubt that when a man is called upon to decide between two courses of conduct these two things, pleasure and pain, do very often decide the question for him. You should bear in mind, however, that when we use the words pleasure and pain we do not intend them to stand for real things. If we say that certain actions give pleasure to one man and pain to another, we mean that these actions are likely to cause pleasant feelings to the one and painful feelings to the other. Thus, in speaking of pleasure and pain, we refer to the sensations or emotions of the person affected by them, rather than to the object or action that causes them. Suppose, for example, that a man has fallen into the habit of drinking spirits. He knows that drink- * Some writers think that Pleasure and Pain are absolute sovereigns, that they tell us what we must do, and that, in fact, we always obey them to the best of our ability. If this is" so, it is useless to enquire what we ought to do. If I must do a certain thing it is a mere waste of time and trouble to enquire whether I ought to do it or not. 313 ing a certain quantity of rum will satisfy for a time the craving that he has for strong drink, and that the taste of the liquor and the excitement will give him a certain amount of pleasure ; and he knows well enough that pain will follow bodily pain in the shape of severe headache,, and mental pain in the shape of shame and sorrow for his folly. You understand that the pain will be altogether greater than the pleasure. But he, with his appetite and faculties disordered by his drunken habits, feels that the pleasure will, on the whole, be greater than the pain. The man's judgment is set wrong by his disordered appe- tites, but he acts in accordance with it. He places a couple of impostors on the thrones of Pleasure and Pain ; but when once they are there he becomes their loyal subject. It seems quite clear that the conduct of men is very largely determined in this kind of way ; but, happily, only few choose their sovereigns so very unwisely as the drunkard does, and, of course, the Aviser the choice is the better the conduct will be. Let us remember, then, that, if it is true that pleasure and pain rule us that the desire to get pleasure and to avoid pain is in very many cases our principal motive their rule ,can bring good to us and to the State only in proportion to our knoivledge and our wisdom. Here, then, we have a very powerful motive. Is it the very best that we can find, or is it even always the most powerful ? Do we always say, " Let us try to get as much pleasure and avoid as much pain as we can, and seek for no other or higher motive/' or ought we to say this ? The only answer is, If we can find no better motive we must be content with this, and be like the beasts of the field ; but, at all events, it seems to be worth our while to attempt to discover a better and nobler one. Does a Consideration of our Moral Sense lead us to the Discovery of the Best Motive ? In order to do this, let us consider some instance of what all will allow to be good conduct, and try to find out the motive that leads to it. A not very uncommon case will answer the purpose best. It often happens that a wife who has been brought up in luxury, and has been used to have all her wants supplied with very little effort on her part, will, if she finds that her husband's health is suffering through the hard work that lie 314 has to perform, deny herself all the comforts and enjoyments to which she has been accustomed, in order that she may lighten her husband's work and at the same time allow her children to get a good education. In such a case, it may be said, it is merely " pleasure and pain " that give the motive, and the wife acts as she does because she feels that it gives her more pleasure to do what she considers right in helping her husband and her children than it would to continue to live as she did before, but with the feeling that she was doing wrong in allowing her husband and children to suffer in order that she might feel no discomfort. This is true enough as far as it goes, but it suggests this further question : How has this feeling of pleasure in right- doing and of pain in wrong-doing come into existence ? Whence did it come to us ? The answer will probably be that man has a moral sense that urges him to do what he considers right, and to refrain from doing what he considers wrong ; that to act in opposition to his moral sense gives pain, just as acting in oppo- sition to the sense of feeling by putting one's hand into the fire gives pain. If we now ask where this sense came from, we shall most likely be told that it has grown up in this way : In the earliest ages men found that some actions caused pleasure to the actor and to other people, while others produced pain ; and thus actions of the former kind came to be considered good, and those of the latter kind bad. As time went on, this mode of distinguishing conduct became part of man's nature through the habit having been transmitted from parents to children, and at last man came to feel that he ought to do certain things, and to refrain from doing certain other things to have a sense of right and wrong, just as he has a sense that enables him to dis- tinguish between a hurtful and a wholesome smell and to feel pleasure in doing right and pain in doing wrong. It is easy to understand that those people whose actions were on the whole pleasant and beneficial to the largest number of people would have the greatest tendency to live and thrive, while those whose actions were of an opposite kind would have a tendency to be crushed out. Thus, then, men would gradually get, along with their moral sense of right and wrong, a desire to make their conduct pleasing and beneficial to the greatest number possible. Now, quite evidently, this desire would be a motive hardly differ- 315 ing from that caused by " pleasure and pain ; " and, as in the- case of a motive directly depending on pleasure and pain, it is plain that the usefulness, to us and to the State, of the moral sense and the resulting desire depends entirely on our knowledge of what is good and what is bad for ourselves and for others. We have now to learn, therefore, how far the amount of knowledge that we actually possess is able to assist our moral sense by showing us what kind of conduct is most likely to be beneficial to the State and to individuals. Is not the Desire to do the Greatest Amount of Good to the Greatest Number really the Best Motive ? But some people have thought that a man ought to desire to do what he believes will produce the greatest good to the greatest number that is, what he has learnt to endeavour to do while acquiring his moral sense and that this is not only a suffi- cient, but also the best motive. Now, many writers have believed that a man may best help the greatest number to obtain the greatest happiness, and so do the greatest good to the State, by fully exercising all his own faculties as far as he can do so while thoroughly suiting himself to the circumstances that surround him that the less he is like a fish out of water the better it will be for him and for other people, and the more he will be doing what he ought to do. Can we then find here that best motive that we are searching for? Certainly not. There is perhaps hardly a motive at all. We have here merely a statement of what men have been compelled to do, and what a man must continue to do if he wishes to live as long and as comfortably as possible. The doctrine that a man's motive should be a desire to gain and to give as much happiness as he can, and that he can produce the greatest measure of happiness by trying to suit himself to his surroundings, amounts to this : If a man is to be as useful and comfortable as his faculties and circumstances will allow him to be, he must try to be as like other people as possible, to offend nobody, to sneak through life as quietly as he can, and to believe that everything is going on in the best possible way ; and he must carefully abstain from thinking about such a thing as progress. This is the only kind of motive that is to be got out of the doctrine. 316 What we want to learn is, what kind oi motive a man ought to set before himself as the best ; how a man may best kill the evil will that is in him, if it is evil, and get the good will ; how he ought to shape his constant painful strivings to be different from what he is, so that he may attain to that which is best. The doctrine of " the greatest good to the greatest number " in all its forms only tells us, in a rather loose kind of way, without hinting what happiness is, that our aim must be to give the greatest happiness to the greatest number ; and in one of its forms it tells us, without any warrant whatever, that if we act according to our lights, and leave others at liberty to do the same, each will secure for himself the greatest happiness that is possible for him. Now, it is probably very true that in the end the best motive, if we could find it, would lead up to the greatest happiness of the greatest number ; but the principle is quite useless as a motive or as a rule of conduct for men so ignorant as the best informed of us are, though it might serve well enough for beings of a higher order, gifted with far greater powers than we r possess of learning what in the end will produce happiness and what will not, and of determining whether leaving every man to do what pleases himself will really bring the greatest possible happiness to the greatest number. We do not object to the " greatest happiness " principle, and cannot ; a great part of this book is based upon it that is, we have been endeavour- ing throughout to discover how the greatest happiness to the greatest number is or may be produced. All that we say is that there is no reason to believe that this principle can, by itself, yield us the best motive for individual conduct, or, indeed, any true motive at all. The Greatest-happiness Principle gives us no Sufficient Motive, but it may put us on the Right Track. But there is one thing that it does : it helps us to feel certain that we have the right clue, the clue that will lead us to discover the right answer to our question, or rather to find out that such an answer is not obtainable by this method. For, on making trial of our knowledge, we find that our ignorance as to what will be the final results of a certain course of con- duct is in most cases so profound that we are quite pre- 317 vented by it from giving any but the most vague and useless answers to such questions as " What ought a man to do in order to cause the greatest amount of happiness to as many people as possible ? " Really, about the most suitable answer that we in our present condition are able to give to the question is, " The best he can according to his judgment, provided that he does not interfere with other people's doing the best they can according to their judgment." And this answer gives for our purpose about the same amount of information as a man who wanted to know the size of a certain stone would derive from being told that it was as large as a lump of chalk. Our imperfect knowledge, therefore, or possibly our complete ignorance, about the ultimate results of certain kinds of conduct prevents our answering this question in any satisfactory manner. The Possession of Perfect Knowledge would probably make the Motives referred to effective; but we have no such Perfect Knowledge. There is, in fact, only one way by which man can hope ever to be able through the ordinary action of his faculties to get a satisfactory answer to our main question, and that is by increasing his knowledge and his powers of using it. By very careful observation of the sun, moon, and planets, and by equally careful study of what was observed, astronomers found out the law that binds the heavenly bodies together, and are now able to state it in very few words. It may be that similar careful observation of man and society will by- and-by enable men to give an equally brief and trustworthy answer to the question, " What ought a man to do, and why ought he to do it ? " It is certain that this is the' only way in which a really useful answer can come to man through his own unassisted work. It seems equally certain that man is at least as far from obtaining such an amount and kind of knowledge as a dog is from possessing a sound knowledge of algebra. But even if man's knowledge were perfect it is not certain that he would be guided by it, though it is probable that he would. If perfect knowledge does not lead to perfect action, the question, " Why should a man do what he knows to be best ? " would still have to be answered. 318 These Considerations lead to the Conclusion that the Best Motive must come to us, if we can get it at all, from the Region that lies beyond the Boundaries of our present Knowledge. Is it, then, quite impossible, from consideration of our own nature, or of the circumstances by which we are surrounded, to find the best motive on which to base a general rule of conduct ? Yes ; at present it seems to be impossible to deter- mine that motive by such means. For two thousand years many of the ablest of men have been trying to find it. Scores of motives have been suggested, but no one of these has been proved to be the best, or has been received as such by even the greater number of sensible men.* Though the Method considered will not yield the Answer to the Question, " What ought a Man to do ? " it does not at all follow that one cannot be obtained by some other Method. But, although it appears to be impossible to find a proper answer to the questions, " What ought a man to do ? " and f ' Why ought he to do it ? " either by considering the nature of man himself or that of the world in which he lives, it does not in the least follow that no such answer can be found anywhere. Millions of people are ready to declare that they have got such an answer by an altogether different method, and have found it thoroughly trustworthy through life, and in hours when the dark shadow of death has come over them ; and it would be extremely unwise to assume, without very careful enquiry, that these people have no ground for their belief, especially when it is considered that some of those who have held this belief have done much of the best w r ork that the world has ever seen. It does not come within the scope of this book to refer to answers of this kind, or to the way in which it is said that they can be obtained ; but it is quite allowable to say that time spent in the search for them will not be wasted, even if the result of the search should prove to be that no answer * If the reasoning in this chapter is correct it leads to the conclusion that unless there is a Power outside of man that can and does tell him what he ought to do, and why he ought to do it, he can have no rule of conduct but such as may he hased on expediency, depending on " pleasure and pain." This expediency must be a very poor guide, because man's knowledge as to what really is expedient is, as yet, so very imperfect. 319 can be found. Very few indeed altogether fail in getting some kind of answer enough, at all events, to convince them that there is still a real region of mystery that cannot be brought into the domain of the senses and the reason; while any one that succeeded in finding a satisfactory answer to the question, ''' What ought a man to do, and why should he do it?" one that would serve as a useful and trustworthy guide would surely find that the time taken up in seeking it had been uncom- monly well spent. Though no Answer to our main Question can be inferred from the Nature of Man himself, the Study of it yields many good practical Rules. It may be added that, though it seems to be impossible from a consideration of the nature of man himself or of the world around him to obtain the general answer required, it is quite possible by this means to frame useful though very imperfect sets of rules on the subject of conduct. This chapter, and the book itself, may fitly conclude with five selected rules that can be applied to a great number of the cases in daily life in which such rules are needed. These are, I. Conduct approved by all men at all times and in all places is good. II. The conduct of an individual which would produce evil results if it were imitated by everybody is wrong. III. The conduct of an individual which can give him pleasure only by causing corresponding pain to others is wrong. IV. Conduct that is wrong when the individual is af- fected by it is also wrong when the State is affected by it. V. The judgment of a man's real peers is his best available human standard of conduct in cases which seem doubtful and difficult to him, but are thoroughly understood by them. Few, perhaps, could act in accordance with these rules under all circumstances, but it would be well for the State if all of us could be induced to try to do so. INDEX, INDEX. A. Page Abstinence and Interest . . 66 Actions . . . . . . 284 Act of Settlement . . . . 226 Adaptability to Circumstances very striking in Man . . . . 11 Advocacy . . . . . . 295 Ages : Stone, Bronze, Iron . . 18 Arbitration 283 B. Bail .. .. .. ..288 Bankers deal in Credit . . . . 102 Banking Capital . . . . 105 Bank-notes . . . . . . 105 Bank-notes, How the Issue of, is limited .. .. ..106 Bankruptcy . . . . . . 276 Banks, how established . . 104 Banks sometimes lend on Mort- gage .. .. ..107 Barter .. .. ..92 Bill of Rights .. .. ..226 Bills and their Uses . . . . 108 Borrowing : When to leave off, and how .. .. ..201 Business .. .. .. Ill Business Dangers and Difficulties 117 c. Capital and Division of Labour . . 77 Capital assists Production .. 53 Capital denned . . . . 55 Capital : Introduction to the Sub- ject .. .. ..52 Capital in Mining Enterprise . . 58 Capital, of an Individual and of the State distinguished . . 63 Capital Punishment . . . . 291 Capitalists do not advance Means of Subsistence . . . . 57 Page China, Lessons to be learnt from 305 Civil Service and Civil Servants . . 250 Civil Trials .. .. ..292 Codes of Law . . . . . . 298 Conduct, Practical Rules of . . 319 Contract, Title by . . ... 274 Co-operation and Competition, Re- spective Advantages of . . 214 Copyright .. .. .. 278 Coroners . . . . . . 287 Cost of Production . . . . 126 Cost of Production of Food . . 138 Cost of Production of Pood, Rela- tions of, to Price . . . . 133 Cost of Production of Manufac- tured Goods . . . . 139 Costs of Suits . . . . . . 296 Courts .. .. ..297 Credit and the Law . . . . 115 Credit assists the Work of Ex- change . . . . . . 101 Credit to Consumers : Evils caused by it .. .. ..114 Crimes .. .. .. 285 Crimes, The most common . . 286 Current Bank Accounts . . 103 D. Dangerous Persons, The State's Relation to .. .. ..172 Delivery : Contract of Bailment 276 Demand and Supply . . . . 119 Demand and Supply, Limitations of Law of .. .. ..123 Departments Agent-General's . . . . 252 Audit Office .. ..251 Colonial Secretary's Office . . 252 Crown Lands and Immigra- tion .. .. ..260 Crown Law Office . . . . 255 Customs .. .. ..256 Defence , ..260 324 Page Departments continued. Education . . . . 257 Friendly Societies Registry Office .. .. ..254 Geological .. .. 258 Government Insurance . . 254 Justice . . . . . . 255 Legislative . . . . 251 Marine .. .. .. 256 Mines .. .. .. 258 Native .. .. ..258 Native Land Courts . . 258 Police .. .. .. 2GO Post Office and Telegraph . . 255 Printing and Stationery . . 252 Property-tax . . . . 254 Public Trust Office . . 257 Public Works . . . . 259 Registrar-General's Office . . 251 Stamp .. .. ..257 Survey . . . . . . 261 Treasury .. .. ..253 Working Railways . . . . 259 Depression and Prosperity . . 163 Division and Combination of La- bour . . . . . . 74 Duties on Luxuries . . . . 186 E. Education and the State 31, 215 English Freedom in Alfred's Time 222 English Freedom under Foreign Kings .. .. ..223 English Freedom, Downward Ex- tension of . . . . 227 Egypt : The Lesson taught by her History . . . . . . 302 Evidence, Rules of . . . . 293 Evidence, The -Taking of .. 295 P. Family Ties, A Possible Origin of 19 Fixed Capital . . . . 54, 100 Foreign Trade, Cause of . . 189 Foreign Trade, Object of . . 190 Foreign Trade, Benefits derived from . . . . 77, 190 Foreign Trade implies Home Pro- duction . . . . . . 191 Foreign Trade, Effects of dis- couraging . . . . . . 193 Formation of a State by Union of Groups . . . . 21 France, Lessons taught by the History of . . . . 243, 307 Freedom, Early English . . 221 Friendly Societies . . . . 151 G. Page Gold, Silver, and Copper, to what extent Legal Tender . . . . 97 Gold and Silver, Variation of Value of . . . . 97 Government of New Zealand worth studying . . . . 220, 229 Governments, Classification of . . 219 Governments in general . . 218 Governor : His Functions . . 248 Governor, Mode of Selection of . . 249 Governor, the Queen's Representa- tive .. .. .. 247 Great Companies and the State . . 33 Great Charter, The . . . . 224 Greatest Good to the Greatest Number . . . . . . 315 Greece, Lessons from the History of .. .. .. ..304 Growth of a State is gradual . . 24 Growth of Intelligence should be encouraged by the State . . 217 H. Habeas Corpus Act . . . . 288 Health and the State . . . . 30 Historical Method . . . . 5 History a useful Guide for the Future .. .. ..301 History shows how States have been formed . . . . 21 Hospitals and Quarantine . . 172 House of Representatives : Number of Members, Electors, Term of 238 House of Representatives, Origin of .. .. .. .. 237 House of Representatives declares the Mind of the People . . 240 House of Representatives chooses Ministers . . . . . . 240 House of Representatives helps to make Laws . . . . . . 241 House of Representatives controls Expenditure . . . . 242 Humane Feelings,Cause of Growth of .. .. .. ..169 Husband and Wife . . 279 I. Immigration .. .. 161,201,260 Income-tax . . . . . . 181 India, Lesson taught by History of .. .. .. ..306 Industrial Schools . . . . 167 Inequalities should be removed . . 213 Instruments of Production . . 46 325 Page Insurance . . . . 64. 254 Interest, Justification of G7 Interest and Time . . . . 68 Intestates . . . . . . 274 Ireland, Lessons taught by the History of . . . . 156, 308 J. Judges, Terms of Appointment of 227 Jury .. .. .. .. 289 Jury and Judge, Province of . . 289 K. Knowledge, The power of storing up, the Cause of Human Pro- gress . . ... . . 12 Knowledge, Perfect, might lead to Perfect Action 317 L. Labour, Illustration and Defini- tion of . . . . 39 Labour, Dignity of . . 42 Labour an Instrument of Produc- tion .. .. ..49 Labour, Combination of 74 Labour, Division of . . 75 Labour, Market Value of . . 144 Labourers not subsisted by Capital advanced . . . . 57 Labour : " More Work " not neces- sarily advantageous . . . . 192 Labourers and Employers, Con- tests between . . . . 227 Land the principal Natural Agent 48 Land in Use, How the Quality of, is determined . . . . 142 Land-tax . . . . . . 184 Landownership, Eesult of Bargain between the State and Private Persons .. .. ..205 Landowners, Limitation of Eights of .. .. .. ..205 Land, The State should keep some Control over. . .. .. 206 Land, Resumption of, without full Compensation is Robbery . . 208 Land : The Kind of Control that the State should exercise over it 209 Law of Demand and Supply . . 122 Laws : How made by Parliament 245 Law denned . . . . . . 262 Law : How it comes into being . . 2G3 Law arising from Custom . . 264 Page Law made by Parliament 241, 246, 265 Law : Judge-made or Case Law . . 267 Law, Functions of . . . . 300 Legacy Duties ... . . 186 Legal Rights and Duties . . 267 Legislation, Hasty, is a great Evil 243 Legislative Council the Second Chamber . . . . . . 244 Legislative Council : Why its Power is less than that of the House of Representatives . . . . 245 Legislative Council : Revision of Bills a very important Part of its Work . . . . . . 246 Legislative Council : Nature of its Power .. .. .. 247 Liberty : How secured . . . . 288 Limits of State Work . . . . 26 Lunatic Asylums . . . . 173 M. Magna Charta . . . . . . 224 Maori Chiefs, The Changes seen by 7 Maori Cooking-place . . . . 15 Maoris and the Moa . . . . 15 Maoris in the Stone Age when Europeans came . . . . 19 Maoris, Slavery amongst the . . 278 Maoris, Tribal Obligations of . . 20 Maori Population : How checked in former Times . . . . 157 Maori Freedom connected with English Freedom . . . . 220 Maori Runanga resembles Meet- ings of Freemen in the earliest English Times . . . . 221 Maoris, Handiness of . . . . 75 Maoris and the Native Depart- ment .. .. .. 258 Maori Runanga . . . . 264 Maoris, Land belonging to . . 270 Man's Relation to Lifeless Matter 8 Man's Relation to the Vegetable Kingdom . . . . . . 9 Market Value . . . . . . 121 Market Value depends mainly on Demand and Supply . . . . 122 Married Women's Property . . 280 Master and Servant . . . . 278 Mental Characteristics common to Man and the Lower Animals 9 Ministry defined . . . . 230 Ministry : How dismissed . . 233 . Ministry, How the Power of dis- missing a, is limited . . . . 234 Ministry: How selected .. 232 Ministry, The, in Cabinet . . 233 326 Page Ministry, Work of . . . . 234 Ministry, Why Changes of, may be beneficial . . . . . . 235 Monoy, Various Kinds of 94 Money : What it should be made of 95 Money, The Functions of 96 Money : " Sending it out of the Country" .. .. ..93 Money : How far Fixed Capital . . 100 Moral Sense, The . . 175, 313 " More Work " not necessarily ad- vantageous . . . . . . 192 Motive, The best . . . . 311 Motive, The best, must come from outside 318 N. National Debt National Debt : Reasons for bor- rowing National Debt : Control of Ex- penditure National Debt : From whom should a State borrow? National Debt : Who are to gain by it, and who are to pay in- terest on it?. . National Debt, The Burden of, is not constant Nationalisation of Land Natural Agents Natural Value Natural Value depends on Cost of Production o. Object of Enquiry Pardon Parent and Child Patents Pauperism, Remedies for Petition of Right Piece-work and Day-work Pleasure and Pain Police Population, The Positive Check to Population, The Preventive Check to .. Population, Growth of, checked by Ignorance and Idleness Population, Growth of, checked by bad Land-laws 195 19G 198 198 199 202 203 47 121 134 29 291 282 272 168 226 148 312 287 154 155 156 157 Population, Benefits derived from Increase of . . Population, Man's Ingenuity checks the Growth of Population, Why Real Wages and, do not increase together Population and Immigration Population and Improvidence Poverty increases along with Wealth, Why Poverty, how dealt with by the State Price defined Price may include Rent, but is not increased by it Price of Food and Cost of Produc- tion, Relations of Prices, General Rise or Fall of, possible Primitive Man, History of, how discovered Prisons and Criminals Private Rights. . Produce, how shared Production and Producers Production aided by Knowledge and Skill Profit.. Profit, A Current Rate of Progress, Man's Capacity for, a distinguishing Characteristic . . Progress of Savages towards Civil- isation Property-tax Prosperity of Manufacturing Countries in spite of High Price of Food Protection Punishments . 175 Quarantine R. Railways and the State Real Property Recreation, Mental, and the State Remittances to Foreign Countries Rent : Profit and Wages sometimes called Rent Rent-like Profits are Profits on Fixed Capital Rent may be received through Ownership of any Natural Ad- vantage Rent compared with Wages and Profit Page 158 158 160 161 162 165 166 88 132 133 124 14 175 27B 140 45- 72 69 '130 10 17 182 139- 193 290 172' 32 270 3G 109 78 80 81 327 Page Rent, Amount of, how determined 83 Rent, Nominal, often differs from Real Rent . . . . 83 Rent : To whom does it rightfully belong ? . . . . 85, 140, 209 Rent and Cost of Production . . 127 Rent, Application of Law of, gene- rally requires Qualifications . . 129 Rent generally no Part of Cost . . 130 Rent included in Price, but does not fix it . . . . . . 132 Rent, Cause of . . . . 136 Rights of Property : How they came into Existence . . . . 268 Rights of Property ; Title . . 270 Rome : The Lessons taught by her History ,. .. ..304 s. Savings-banks . . . . . . 109 Service the Cause of Value . . 88 Slavery .. .. ..278 Stamp Duties . . . . . . 185 State, The, defined . . . . 1 State, The, not an easy Subject . . 2 State, The : Importance of the Subject .. .. ..7 State, The : Its proper Work . . 25 State, The, The People of New Zealand .. .. ..28 State, The, Full Definition of . . 29 State, The, Causes of Danger to 309 Strikes and Lock-outs . . . . 150 Sudden Changes in State Laws should be avoided . . . . 212 Supply and Demand . . . . 119 T. Taxation, Expenses of the State met by .. .. ..178 Taxation, Incidence of . . . . 180 Taxation, Adam Smith's Rules of 181 Taxation and Immigration . . 201 Taxes, Total and Average Amount of, in New Zealand . . . . 179 Taxes on Necessaries . . . . 186 Temperance and the State . . 34 Title by taking or holding posses- sion .. .. ..271 Title by Invention : Patents ; Copy- rights .. .. ..272 Title by Gift and Assignment . . 273 Title by Will Title by Contract Title through Bankruptcy Trade-unions Trade-unions, Abuses connected with Tradesmen live by successful Efforts to satisfy Wants Truck System Page 273 274 276 149 150 u. United States of America, Lesson taught by Condition of . . 308 Unproductive Expenditure not " good for Trade " . . . . 165 Unproductive Consumption . . 53 V. Value defined . . . . 87 Value and Scarcity . . . . 90 Value the Result of a Mental Operation . . . . 91 Values not constant . . . . 120 Values, General Rise or Fall of, Impossible . . . . . . 124 w. Wages and Capital . . . . 59 Wages, of Management . . . . 66 Wages, High and Low ; Real Wages ; Money Wages . . 146 Wages, Rate of, arid Price of Labour . . . . . . 148 Wages, Rent, and Profit not al- ways distinguishable . . . . 152 Wages of Skilled Labour, Causes of Different Rates of . . . . 153 Wealth, Illustration and Defini- tion of . . . . 40 Wealth not necessarily Capital . . 61 Wealth and Production . . 44 Wealth, Unproductive Use of, not necessarily bad . . . . 62 Wealth, why seldom hoarded . . 62 Wealth, Distribution of .. 140 Wickedness and Crime, Distinc- tion between . . . . 286 Will, Title by . . . . . . 273 Wrongs and their Remedies ; Pri- vate Wrongs . . . . 283 By Authority: GEOIIGE DIDSBDBY, Government Printer, Wellington. 5195 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. Form L9-42m-8,'49(B5573)444 UC SOUT HERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY IIIIIIIllH IIIH '""'' A 000 530 883 8